Our research focuses on applying systems analysis approaches and engineering tools to identify novel clinical therapeutic targets for complex diseases. It is challenging to develop new treatments for these diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), because they do not have a single genetic cause and they simultaneously present broad physiologic changes. By combining novel engineered in vitro platforms, mouse models, and multivariate computational systems analysis, we will be able to 1) capture a holistic systems-level understanding of complex diseases, and 2) isolate specific mechanisms driving disease. The ultimate goal of our laboratory is to use these tools to identify new mechanisms driving disease onset and progression that will translate to effective therapeutic strategies.
We integrate the tiers of biological research to better understand and control inflammation-driven disease.
Cells exist naturally in 3D. We use 3D microfluidic cultures to grow cells in physiologic environments where their response to stimuli more reflective of true biology.
Our versatile microfluidic platform allows for 2D and 3D culturing, angiogenic and other chemotactic studies, and diverse co-culturing.
The biology of neurodegenerative diseases are innately complex. We quantify multivariate signal sets in order to study these complex diseases.