THIRD PLACE
Students: Katie Atherton
Project: Identifying Peptides with Cell-Specific Degradation
Major: Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Advisor: Tommy Pashuck
Abstract
Peptides are widely used in hydrogels and other biomaterials due to their ease of synthesis and ability to improve the biological properties of synthetic matrices. Peptides are natural substrates for cell-secreted proteases, making them ideal for enabling matrices to be modified by encapsulated cells. Protease activity varies by cell type, and proteases can either be attached to cell membranes (membrane-type proteases) or can be soluble proteases released into the media surrounding the cells.
We seek to identify peptides that are degraded by only one type of cell and not others. To control spatial degradation, we also are looking for peptides that are only degraded by membrane-type proteases and not soluble proteases. Identifying cell-specific peptide degradation will enable the design of hydrogels containing multiple cell types but having controlled cell-specific microenvironments.
We have developed a functional approach to quantifying peptide degradation by entire cell types. The peptides were incubated for 24 hours with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (hUVECs), human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs), and three types of macrophages (M0, M1, M2). To separate out whether these are being degraded by soluble or membrane-type proteases, we incubated peptide libraries with either the cell types of interest, or conditioned media that did not contain cells. Our data indicates that we were able to identify peptides that were more than 10% cleaved by either hUVECs or hMSCs, but not the other cell types.
About Katie Atherton
Katie Atherton is a third-year student majoring in chemical engineering with a concentration in biomolecular engineering. At the end of her freshman year, she won the Clare Boothe Luce Research Scholarship for women in engineering. She has worked in a bioengineering research lab with Professor Tommy Pashuck since spring 2022, studying cell-biomaterial interactions. In summer 2023, she completed an Iacocca International Internship at the University of Bordeaux, facilitating collaboration between the Pashuck Lab and the Aquitaine Waves and Matter Laboratory.
Outside of the lab, Katie is an active member of Lehigh’s chapters of the Society of Women Engineers and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. She is an apprentice teacher for the chemical engineering thermodynamics course and enjoys tutoring middle schoolers through the America Reads/America Counts program.