Project Title:

Finite element modeling of Engineered Cartilage

Assistant Professors V. Prasad Shastri and Caglar Oskay

Brief Description of Project:

Tissue engineering offers a means of restoring function to damaged tissue, by combining principles of engineering, materials and biology.  Articular cartilage (AC) is a key component of joints and is responsible for joint articulation.  Tissue engineered cartilage, while providing an alternative to autologous cartilage explants (the gold standard in treating damage to articular cartilage); lacks the stiffness of native cartilage.  AC is composed of chondrocytes which are responsible for the secretion of the extra cellular matrix (ECM) components, namely, collagen (Coll) type-II and glycosaminoglycans (GAG).  GAG and Coll are responsible for providing the compliance (stiffness) and osmotic tension within cartilage.  We propose to develop strategies to improve the stiffness of engineered cartilage by varying the spatial density and organization of chondrocytes within engineered cartilage, so as to impact the stress distribution within the cartilage, thereby, promoting biosynthesis The chondrocytes secrete.  The objective this effort over the summer, will be to establish a finite element model to describe the evolution of stress distribution and its impact on the biosynthesis of the ECM.

Nature of Supervision:

Will be supervised by Prof. Shastri and a graduate student, with whom the student will work closely.

A Brief Research Plan (period is for 10 weeks):

This interdisciplinary project will expose the student to various facets of surface science, biomaterials and mammalian cell culture. During the course of the summer, the UG student will work towards the following objectives in close collaboration with a graduate student: (1) Develop a process to encapsulate QD in biocompatible carriers, (2) Scale-up the process, (3) Carryout experiments to determine the cytocompatibility and internalization of the encapsulated QD in model cell systems. The student will also be expected to write a weekly progress reports and help in preparation of an abstract for an upcoming meeting.

Number of Open Slots:

1

Contact Information:

Prasad. Shastri, Assistant Professor
Phone: 615-343-8005
prasad.shastri@vanderbilt.edu