Chelsea Stowell

Research Mentor: Yadong Wang

Research:  

Though several tissue-engineered cardiovascular devices have performed well in research and clinical trials, their widespread clinical adoption has been severely hampered by expensive and complex production processes. Cell-free polymeric scaffolds for in situ tissue engineering may offer a more easily translatable alternative. Under her advisor Dr. Yadong Wang, Ms. Stowell is developing a fast-resorbing, elastomeric vascular graft for vascular bypass and repair. Previous work demonstrated that the Wang graft remodels into artery-like conduits within months of implantation in rats and maintains high patency rates out to one year. With Dr. Wang’s collaborators, Dr. Jay Humphrey and Dr. Christopher Breuer, Ms. Stowell first performed long-term testing of a new, microfibrous graft design in mice. The new graft displayed slower remodeling and less native-like neotissue, emphasizing the importance of fast cell infiltration to remodeling rate even for fast-degrading materials, and suggesting a link between remodeling rate and quality. She is now developing fabrication processes for large animal-sized grafts in preparation for validation in both sheep and pigs.

Publications:

• Lee, K.W., Gade, P.S., Dong, L.W., Zhang, Z.X., Aral, A.M., Gao, J., Ding, X.C.,  Stowell, C.E.T.,  Nisar, M.U., Kim, K., Reinhardt, D.P., Solari, M.G., Gorantla, V.S., Robertson, A.M., Wang, Y. (2018). A biodegradable synthetic graft for small arteries matches the performance of autologous vein in rat carotid arteries. Biomaterials 181:67-80.

Conferences:

• Stowell, C.E.T., Celdran-Bonafonte, D., Jarrouj, A., Janda, J., Wang, Y., and Roy-Chaudhury, P. Resorbable vascular grafts show early smooth muscle formation in a porcine dialysis access model. Oral presentation at: Society for Biomaterials Annual Meeting and Exhibition; 2018 Apr. 11-14; Atlanta, GA.