Vascular Tissue and Cellular Engineering Lab

Welcome to the Vascular Tissue & Cellular Engineering Lab at UC Biomedical Engineering Department

Our laboratory is focused on engineering vascularized tissues through manipulation of the process of angiogenesis, i.e. formation of capillaries.

Potential applications of this research include different areas where therapeutic angiogenesis can be of benefit, including wound healing, heart remodeling and regeneration following myocardial infarction, and repair of ischaemic tissues.


Principal Investigator

Headshot of Daria Narmoneva

Daria Narmoneva

Associate Professor, CEAS - Biomedical Eng

850 MANTEI

513-556-3997

Chronic diabetic ulcers are the leading cause of non-traumatic limb amputations in the US and are a significant health care burden. To improve healing of chronic diabetic wounds, we created a unique microenvironment using a novel hydrogel (based on self-assembling peptide nanofibers) that mimics the native matrix in the wound and promotes healing. To activate unresponsive, diseased cells within the chronic wound, we have developed an electric field-based technology that uses high-frequency wireless electric fields stimulation to activate capillary cells and enhance blood vessel formation in the wound, which results in much faster healing. This technology has been successfully tested in the mouse and pig models, and is under active translational development in collaboration with UCRI and the UC Office for Entrepreneurial Affairs and Technology Commercialization.

Collaborations

Headshot of Robert B. Hinton, MD

Robert B. Hinton, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

The role of elastin deficiency in altered interstitial cell phenotype and progressive aortopathy.

Headshot of Donna Carlson Jones, PhD

Donna Carlson Jones, PhD

Department of Surgery, University of Cincinnati

Mechanisms of stretch-mediated cell differentiation

Headshot of Sundeep G. Keswani, MD

Sundeep G. Keswani, MD

Fetal Surgery, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Microenvironment in the regenerative wound healing.

Headshot of Andrei Kogan, PhD

Andrei Kogan, PhD

Physics department, University of Cincinnati

Biophysics of diabetic wound healing

Headshot of Yigang Wang, PhD

Yigang Wang, PhD

Department of Pathology, University of Cincinnati

Angiogenic therapies for cardiac regeneration.

Doctoral and Masters Students

Headshot of Elisabeth D. Denby

Elisabeth D. Denby

Research Interest: Cardiac regeneration after myocardial infarction in a rat model of diabetic cardiomyopathy

MS (Expected 12/2016), Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Headshot of Arielle Waller

Arielle Waller

Research Interest: Wound Healing

BS, Chemical Engineering, Howard University, USA

Undergraduate Students

Headshot of Emma Stumpf

Emma Stumpf

Research Interest: Electrotherapy effectiveness as a chronic Wound healing

BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, IN PROGRESS

Former Doctoral Students

  • Toloo Taghian, December 2015
  • Hodari James, December 2014 
  • Varun Krishnamurthy, September 2012 
  • Hongkwan Cho, October 2012 
  • Abdul Sheikh, October 2012 
  • Jennifer Hurley, October 2011 
  • Swathi Balaji, September 2010 
  • Philip Jung, July 2010

Former Undergraduate Students

  • Timothy Carter BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
  • Sameam Shahrestani BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
  • Samantha Staubach BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 
  • Meredith Beckenhaupt BS, Biomedical Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA