Bri Swan

Started: October 2013

Bri Swan is a Microbiology major at The Ohio State University, planning to graduate in Spring 2017. She is from Gahanna, Ohio. In the lab, she works primarily on the ECM Thickness and SCID Mouse studies. Bri is also a member of Bioscience Scholars and Glamour Gals Club, volunteering at nursing homes & giving makeovers.

Scholarships: Research Scholar Award ($1000); 2015 Summer Research Fellowship ($3500)

Abstract:

Extracellular Matrix Deposition on Poly(propylene fumarate) Scaffolds for Bone Tissue Engineering

Craniomaxillofacial (CMF) implants are difficult to develop due to the nature of the site and the shape of the bone defects. The Osteo-Engineering Lab aims to seed human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) on 3D printed, porous, and resorbable poly(propylene fumarate) (PPF) scaffolds. Those cell-seeded scaffolds would then be cultured to produce a coating of bone extra-cellular matrix. The resulting device would be a bone tissue engineering graft that has the appropriate shape for a patient-specific CMF region. The scaffolds are cultured under static conditions (i.e., no flow) for one week in proliferation media containing FGF-2, PDGF-BB, and EGF. Once fully coated, Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 and osteogenic factors are added to induce mineralized ECM production while simultaneously preventing the progression to end-stage mature bone. It is suggested by our previous two-dimensional scaffold studies that these growth factors allow for deposition of a layer of bone extracellular matrix on the scaffolds. Based on this, we hypothesize that translation of this method to 3D scaffolds will be beneficial for future implantation into a canine CMF defect model. This summer we have observed cell attachment and proliferation on 3D scaffolds via hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and SEM imaging. In future, we plan to perform proliferation and differentiation studies to survey the uniformity of the mineralized ECM we produce on the surface of these 3D scaffolds.