Event
MSE Seminar: Dr. Catherine K. Kuo, UMD
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
3:30 p.m.
Room 2108 Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
Sherri Tatum
301-405-5240
statum12@umd.edu
Therapeutic Design Based on Embryonic Tendon Material Property Development
Abstract: Tendons transfer forces from muscles to bones to enable skeletal movement. To perform their physically demanding roles, tendons must possess robust mechanical properties. Unfortunately, adult tendons are highly susceptible to injuries and lack the ability to regenerate, instead healing as fibrotic scar tissue with abnormal extracellular matrix and mechanical properties. Tendon material properties are also significantly compromised in musculoskeletal birth deformities and connective tissue disorders. Each of these conditions poses significant clinical challenges because there are no treatments to restore native tendon material properties and function. The Kuo Laboratory is dedicated to discovering key mechanobiological mechanisms of natural tendon tissue formation and using this knowledge to inform adult and fetal tendon regenerative medicine strategies. Our research integrates materials science, mechanobiology, and developmental biology to elucidate mechanisms of embryonic tissue formation and is using this information to develop therapeutic approaches to enhance tendon healing and regeneration. Our novel approaches and tools to characterize the material properties of small and delicate embryonic/fetal tissues have led to novel findings that have advanced the field’s understanding of how tendons develop their functional properties during tissue formation. This talk will highlight our exciting results that have led to the identification of therapeutic candidates and discuss implications for future translational directions for treatments of adult tendon injuries and diseases as well as developmental abnormalities.
Biography: Catherine K. Kuo is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Research in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering, a Fischell Fellow of the Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices, and faculty in the Institute for Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland. Dr. Kuo’s laboratory focuses on tendon tissue engineering and regenerative medicine strategies informed by the mechanobiology of embryonic tendon development. She is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award, Sweden GoLife Innovation in Research Award, and Emerging Investigator Award by Stem Cell Research and Therapy. Dr. Kuo is also recipient of the 2024 Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Americas Chapter (TERMIS-AM) Education, Training and Outreach Award, the 2024 Poole and Kent Faculty Teaching Award of the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, and the 2022 and 2021 University of Maryland Bioengineering Faculty Instructional Impact Awards based on student nominations. She is President-Elect of TERMIS-AM, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and Associate Editor for Science Advances. Dr. Kuo earned her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and her Ph.D. in Biomaterials and Macromolecular Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and completed her postdoctoral training in the Cartilage Biology and Orthopaedics Branch of the NIAMS at the NIH.
