| Start Date: | 2/24/2022 | Start Time: | 5:00 PM |
| End Date: | 2/24/2022 | End Time: | 6:30 PM |
|
Event Description
BIOMED Special Topics: Neuroengineering Seminar Series
Title:
Engineering Living Tissue for Nervous System and Neuromuscular Reconstruction
Speaker:
D. Kacy Cullen, PhD
Associate Professor
Neurosurgery and Bioengineering
Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
Details:
The Cullen Lab applies biomedical engineering principles to advance our understanding of disease or trauma-induced neurological dysfunction as well as to develop cutting-edge tissue engineering based treatments to restore function. These efforts are a balance between innovative technology development and traditional hypothesis-driven research.
The current lecture will present an overview of our recent efforts to develop a suite of tissue engineered medical products designed to augment the body’s capacity for regeneration by directly replacing lost tissue and/or leveraging developmental mechanisms for tissue reconstruction. These include so-called “living scaffolds” to facilitate axonal pathfinding and neuronal progenitor migration following peripheral and central nervous system injury, respectively.
We will also discuss recent advancements in developing the first pre-innervated tissue engineered muscle to treat severe neuromuscular trauma. Finally, we will provide an update on our efforts to develop implantable tissue engineered axonal pathways to reconstruct long-distance brain circuitry following trauma or neurodegenerative disease. Biomedical engineers will play a leading role in ushering in an era of restorative neurosurgery defined by advanced regenerative therapies capable of facilitating functional recovery in patients afflicted with currently intractable conditions.
Biosketch:
D. Kacy Cullen, PhD, is an Associate Professor (with tenure) of Neurosurgery and Bioengineering at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He also serves as the founding Director of the Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration & Restoration at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. He received a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Neuroengineering at Georgia Tech and then at the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn. |
|
Audience:
Undergraduate StudentsGraduate StudentsFacultyStaff |
|
