Schutte Tissue Engineering Lab

Most adult (non-neonatal) cells produce insufficient elastin to repair damaged fibers or for tissue engineering applications and what is produced is not properly assembled. One notable exception are the uterine myometerial smooth muscle cells during the third trimester of pregnancy; which coincides with the time at which the majority of fetal elastin is produced. Our lab is investigating the interactions of pregnancy hormones and mechanical forces in order to understand the mechanisms involved and to determine the conditions necessary for other adult cells that produce to produce and assemble functional elastic fibers.

Engineered skin substitutes provide improved wound closure times and reduce the need for autologous donor skin needed to close chronic wounds or full thickness skin losses. These substitutes can be used to model changes that occur in the skin such as after the application of negative pressure wound therapy.

In collaboration with Drs. Thomas and Rios in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, we are studying the effects of mechanical stiffness and stretch on uterine fibroid and myometrial cell viability and proliferation. This data as well as study of mechanosensitive pathways is necessary to achieve our long term goal of finding a nonhormonal treatment for uterine fibroids that will shrink the fibroids without harming the surrounding myometrial tissue.

Rapp, Scott J; Dershem, Victoria; Zhang, Xiang; Schutte, Stacey C; Chariker, Mark E (2019. )Varying Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Acute Effects on Human Split-Thickness Autografts. Journal of burn care & research: official publication of the American Burn Association

Pennycuff, Jon F; Schutte, Stacey C; Hudson, Catherine O; Karp, Deborah R; Malykhina, Anna P; Northington, Gina M (2017) Urinary neurotrophic peptides in postmenopausal women with and without overactive bladder.Neurourology and urodynamics, 36 (3),740-744

Schutte, Stacey C; James, Christopher O; Sidell, Neil; Taylor, Robert N (2015. )Tissue-engineered endometrial model for the study of cell-cell interactions.Reproductive sciences (Thousand Oaks, Calif.),22 (3 ),308-15

Schutte, Stacey C; Taylor, Robert N (2012. )A tissue-engineered human endometrial stroma that responds to cues for secretory differentiation, decidualization, and menstruation.Fertility and sterility, ,97 (4), 997-1003

Schutte, Stacey C; Chen, Zhenzhen; Brockbank, Kelvin G M; Nerem, Robert M (2010) Tissue engineering of a collagen-based vascular media: Demonstration of functionality.Organogenesis,6 (4), 204-11

Schutte, Stacey C; Chen, Zhenzhen; Brockbank, Kelvin G M; Nerem, Robert M (2010) Cyclic strain improves strength and function of a collagen-based tissue-engineered vascular media.Tissue engineering. Part A,16 (10), 3149-57

Bedient, CE; Rodriguez, D; Sidell, N; Roberts, C; Schutte, S (2019) Alterations in the invasive properties of peripheral blood monocytes from patients with endometriosis. Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics and Gynecology, 46 (1), 60-5

Schutte, SC; Nerem RM (2013) Blood Vessel Tissue Engineering Biomaterials Science, 3rd edition .(pp. 1237-46).Elsevier, Inc

Nerem, RM; Schutte, SC (2014) The Challenge of Imitating Nature Principles of Tissue Engineering, 4th edition (pp.9-22). Elsevier, Inc