Join the WebEx Auditorium, Building 549, Fort Detrick , 1050 Boyles St Frederick, MD 21702 Frederick National Laboratory
Please join us for the first seminar in the 2024–2025 Georgetown University and FNL Scientific Partners Distinguished Lecture Series: "Organ on a chip and 3D printing: New paradigms for personalized cancer treatments."
Speaker
Stella Alimperti, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cellular Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University
Abstract
Research in Alimperti’s laboratory at Georgetown University aims to integrate medicine and technology within a single framework for potential therapeutic purposes of cancer. Many American adults are affected by them, with an estimated collective cost to the healthcare system of over $442 billion. The development of new therapeutics has been challenged due to conventional two-dimensional (2D) in vitro models, which lack the three-dimensional (3D) spatiotemporal and multicellular structure and functionality of those tissues. In addition, in vivo animal models are cost-demanding, laborious, and highly risky owing to the inherent deficiency in cross-species extrapolation. To overcome these limitations, in Alimperti’s lab, we employ a multidisciplinary research program encompassing 3D printing, organ-on-a-chip technologies, and molecular biology to build preclinical disease models that recapitulate organ pathology and work as diagnostic platforms for therapeutic purposes. As a proof of concept, we will demonstrate a novel 3D-printed in vitro model named bone-on-a-chip in the current presentation. Also, we elucidate interepithelial adhesion mechanisms that maintain or disrupt barrier function in the presence of metastatic cells in soft tissues by utilizing microfluidic technology. Finally, we demonstrate the development of novel additive manufacturing approaches and biomaterials that would potentially enhance tissue regeneration and host-graft integration upon tumor resection. Overall, the microfluidics and 3D printing approaches may pave the way to develop new therapeutics for personalized cancer treatments.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Alimperti received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (2006) and Ph.D. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo under Prof. Stelios Andreadis’ supervision. Upon completing her Ph.D. in 2014, she joined the laboratory of Prof. Christopher Chen at Wyss Institute at Harvard University/Boston University as a postdoctoral associate. In 2018, she established her group at the American Dental Association (ADA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Lately, she moved to Georgetown University as an Associate Professor. Her lab focuses on identifying the mechanisms involved in the development, maintenance, loss of function, and repair/regeneration by developing novel tissue engineering and regenerative strategies. She received multiple grants and has been the corresponding author in multiple manuscripts and U.S./PCT patents. Expertise terms: tissue engineering, cadherins, mechanobiology, inflammation, vascularization.
