Unlimited potency makes stem cell therapy an exciting area of medical research, yet their properties in vitro and especially in vivo have not been comprehensively defined. Using a novel direct-writing method at RPI, we will fabricate combinatorial libraries of scaffold, biomolecule, and stem cell constructs, or niches, with single-cell spatial resolution. These tissue-constructs, with varying composition and geometry, will define stem cell properties, leading to custom-designed tissue replacements built with autologous cells. Professor Chrisey's laboratory is working to characterize effects of physical/biochemical stimuli on stem cells, and how these factors direct their differentiation and development and build stem cells into improved prototype tissue replacement constructs.
T.M. Patz, A. Doraiswamy, R.J. Narayan, N. Menegazzo, C. Kranz, B. Mizaikoff, Y. Zhong, R. Bellamkonda, J.D. Bumgardner, S.H. Elder, X.F. Walboomers, R. Modi, and D.B. Chrisey, Matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation of biomaterial thin films, Materials Science and Engineering: C 27 (2007) 514.
B.R. Ringeisen, H. Kim, J.A. Barron, D.B. Krizman, D.B. Chrisey, S. Jackman, R.C.Y. Auyeung, and B.J. Spargo, Laser Printing of Pluripotent Embryonal Carcinoma Cells, Tissue Engineering 10, (2004) 483-491.
D.B. Chrisey, Materials Processing - The Power of Direct Writing, Science 289 (5481), (2000) 879-881.