In this video, chemical and biomolecular engineering doctoral student John McGlynn explains how he's using a technique called microrheology to enhance wound repair and tissue regeneration.
McGlynn, a fifth-year PhD student, is advised by Kelly Schultz, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering. The Schultz Lab focuses on the "focus on the characterization of colloidal and polymeric gel scaffolds and the development of new techniques to characterize these complex systems."
In McGlynn's research, stem cells are encapsulated into an implantable hydrogel material. "We want to understand how the cells actually remodel their surroundings, because that's important in understanding how they can migrate within the material and also eventually leave the material and [go] to a wound, so that they can enhance wound repair."
To do that "involves embedding these little particles into the material along with the cells," he explains, "and then we can watch how those particles move. Then, based on that, we can see how the cell is actually remodeling its surroundings in general."
Learn more about the research in the video below.
Video by Christine Fennessy, multimedia content creator, P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science