Kelly Stevens | |
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Alma mater | University of Washington University of Wisconsin-Madison |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Washington |
Thesis | Controlling cell proliferation and tissue formation for myocardial repair (2008) |
Website | Stevens Lab |
Kelly Stevens is an American bioengineer and associate professor at the University of Washington. Her research considers the study and development of human platforms to understand and treat disease. She was named a Paul G. Allen Frontiers Fellow in 2022.
Stevens received training fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the University of Washington Bioengineering Cardiovascular Training Grant. She earned her doctorate at the University of Washington in 2008, during which she investigated tissue formation for myocardial repair. [1]
Stevens looks to understand biological processes including cellular assembly. She uses the tools of stem cell and synthetic biology and 3D bio-printing. [2] Bio-printing looks to create healthy, functioning organs from patient's own cells. [3] Her research looks to create human platforms to understand and treat infectious disease.
She has extensively studied the liver, one of the body's few regenerative tissues, to identify new strategies to repair livers damaged by cancer or liver disease. [4] She has studied the factors that influence liver development, including genetic instructions, mechanical forces, blood supply and the liver environment. By creating synthetic technologies that emulate the liver and its local environment, Stevens looks to encourage primordial cells to evolve into different liver cells. [2]
Alongside her research, Stevens is committed to improving justice, equity and inclusion in academia. She published a roadmap to assist faculty in effectively hiring staff from historically excluded groups. [5] [6] The roadmap was created using evidence-based practises, including preparation, proactive recruitment and inclusive interviewing. [6] [7] She has led initiatives to fund Black scientists, cite Black authors and challenge stereotypes. [8]
Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biological tissues. Tissue engineering often involves the use of cells placed on tissue scaffolds in the formation of new viable tissue for a medical purpose, but is not limited to applications involving cells and tissue scaffolds. While it was once categorized as a sub-field of biomaterials, having grown in scope and importance, it can is considered as a field of its own.
The endocardium is the innermost layer of tissue that lines the chambers of the heart. Its cells are embryologically and biologically similar to the endothelial cells that line blood vessels. The endocardium also provides protection to the valves and heart chambers.
Fibrosis, also known as fibrotic scarring, is a pathological wound healing in which connective tissue replaces normal parenchymal tissue to the extent that it goes unchecked, leading to considerable tissue remodelling and the formation of permanent scar tissue.
Stem-cell therapy uses stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. As of 2016, the only established therapy using stem cells is hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This usually takes the form of a bone marrow transplantation, but the cells can also be derived from umbilical cord blood. Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells as well as to apply stem-cell treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
The Methuselah Foundation is an American-based global non-profit organization based in Springfield, Virginia, with a declared mission to "make 90 the new 50 by 2030" by supporting tissue engineering and regenerative medicine therapies. The organization was originally incorporated by David Gobel in 2001 as the Performance Prize Society, a name inspired by the British governments Longitude Act, which offered monetary rewards for anyone who could devise a portable, practical solution for determining a ship's longitude.
David Gobel is an American philanthropist, entrepreneur, inventor, and futurist. He is co-founder and CEO of the Methuselah Foundation, CEO of the Methuselah Fund, and one of the first to publicly advance the idea of longevity escape velocity, even before this term was formulated.
Sangeeta N. Bhatia is an American biological engineer and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Bhatia's research investigates applications of micro- and nano-technology for tissue repair and regeneration. She applies ideas from computer technology and engineering to the design of miniaturized biomedical tools for the study and treatment of diseases, in particular liver disease, hepatitis, malaria and cancer.
Helen Blau is a cell biologist and stem cell researcher famous for her work on muscle diseases, regeneration and aging. She is the Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor and the Director of the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology at Stanford University. Blau is known for overturning the prevailing view that once a cell assumes a certain specialty in the body — or differentiated state —such as a skin or liver cell, it cannot be changed. Her research established that the fate of mammalian cells can be altered. Her finding that specialized cells can be triggered to turn on genetic programs characteristic of other differentiated states provided early evidence that mammalian cellular reprogramming was possible and opened the door to the use of reprogramming in stem cell biology. Her work set the stage for the development of induced pluripotent stem cells and associated stem cell therapies.
Human engineered cardiac tissues (hECTs) are derived by experimental manipulation of pluripotent stem cells, such as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and, more recently, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to differentiate into human cardiomyocytes. Interest in these bioengineered cardiac tissues has risen due to their potential use in cardiovascular research and clinical therapies. These tissues provide a unique in vitro model to study cardiac physiology with a species-specific advantage over cultured animal cells in experimental studies. hECTs also have therapeutic potential for in vivo regeneration of heart muscle. hECTs provide a valuable resource to reproduce the normal development of human heart tissue, understand the development of human cardiovascular disease (CVD), and may lead to engineered tissue-based therapies for CVD patients.
Regeneration in humans is the regrowth of lost tissues or organs in response to injury. This is in contrast to wound healing, or partial regeneration, which involves closing up the injury site with some gradation of scar tissue. Some tissues such as skin, the vas deferens, and large organs including the liver can regrow quite readily, while others have been thought to have little or no capacity for regeneration following an injury.
Shelly R. Peyton is an American chemical engineer who is the Armstrong Professional Development Professor in the Department of CHemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research considers the development of biomaterials to investigate metastatic cancer and potential new therapies.
Serena Nik-Zainal is a British-Malaysian clinician who is a consultant in clinical genetics and Cancer Research UK advanced clinician scientist at the University of Cambridge. She makes use of genomics for clinical applications. She was awarded the Crick Lecture by the Royal Society in 2021. Serena Nik-Zainal was also recognized as one of the 100 Influential Women in Oncology by OncoDaily.
Microgravity bioprinting is the utilization of 3D bioprinting techniques under microgravity conditions to fabricate highly complex, functional tissue and organ structures. The zero gravity environment circumvents some of the current limitations of bioprinting on Earth including magnetic field disruption and biostructure retention during the printing process. Microgravity bioprinting is one of the initial steps to advancing in space exploration and colonization while furthering the possibilities of regenerative medicine.
Menna R. Clatworthy FRCP FMedSci FLSW is a British immunologist who is Professor of Translational Medicine at the University of Cambridge. She studies human tissue immunity. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2022.
Tatiana Segura is an American biomedical engineer who is a professor at Duke University. Her research considers biomedical engineering solutions to promote cell growth. She was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2017 and awarded the Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal in 2021.
Meritxell Huch is a stem cell biologist and director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. Her research considers tissue regeneration and the development of tissue-specific disease models for human organs. She was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator Grant in 2023.
Karen Leigh Christman is an American bioengineer who is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and the Pierre Galletti Endowed Chair for Bioengineering Innovation at University of California, San Diego. Her research considers regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. She was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2023.
Kristyn Simcha Masters is an American bioengineer who is professor and Chair of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Colorado Denver. She works as Director of the Anschutz Medical Campus Center. Her research looks to create tissue-engineered models of disease, with a focus on cancer and cardiac disease.
Miqin Zhang is an American materials scientist who is the Kyocera Professor of Materials Science at the University of Washington. Her research considers the development of new biomaterials for medical applications. Her group develops nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and imaging, biocompatible materials for drug delivery and cell-based biosensors.
Hazel Screen is a British engineer, Head of the School of Engineering & Materials Science and a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. Her research looks to understand the complex structure of biological tissues, with a particular focus on tissues and heart valves. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.