A TISSUE-ENGINEERED PLACENTAL BARRIER MODEL FOR TOXICOLOGY AND PHARMACOLOGY APPLICATIONS

Throughout history, there have been two major instances where a substance caused thousands of birth defects, yet it took a few years for the causation to be noted: thalidomide, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Zika Virus, just recently in 2014 to 2016. In both instances, the developing fetus was indirectly exposed to the substance through the placental barrier. Pregnant women took thalidomide as a medication or were stung by mosquitos and exposed to Zika Virus. These examples clearly show why models of the placental barrier and downstream fetal tissues are critically needed. Herein, I present our work on the development and utilization of a biomimetic placenta-fetus model. The three objectives in this work were to: (1) develop and validate the tissue-engineered BPB model through study of biologically relevant substances; (2) assess the effects of SSRIs on the BPB’s cells and evaluate the drugs’ transport profile across the barrier; and, (3) assess how SSRIs influence cardiomyocyte signaling and injury biomarker release following passage through the BPB. We suggest that this work provides a critically needed and biologically relevant placenta-fetus model, useful as a method to assess pharmacology and toxicology properties of medications and other substances. Moreover, the knowledge gained through the studies performed may hopefully improve clinical care of pregnant women through enhanced understanding of how a medication impacts both the pregnant mother-to-be and her developing fetus

Testing of a 3D printed, nanostructured osteochondral implant for knee repair in a small animal model

Osteochondral lesions of the knee are difficult injuries to treat [1, 2]. Despite improvements in the diagnosis of these lesions, optimal treatment remains elusive, likely as a result of the complex interactions between host factors and lesions specific factors. Lesions with disrupted cartilage that are unstable are especially difficult to treat in younger and more active patients, with current treatment methods leading to mixed results overtime [3]. New and novel materials used to treat joint injury in these populations need to be compatible with industrial scale quality and economies of scale in order to serve as commercially viable implantable devices. We investigated the feasibility of using three-dimensional biologically inspired implants, manufactured using novel 3-dimensional printing techniques and synthetic bio-nanomaterials for treatment of osteochondral defects in a rodent model