"Engineering Biomimetic Materials for Female Reproductive and Gynecologic Health"

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Female reproductive and gynecologic health are historically understudied fields that would significantly benefit from engineering expertise due to the unique biomechanical environment in the female reproductive tract and the dynamic tissue changes orchestrated throughout the menstrual cycle by sex hormones. With the synergistic techniques of tissue engineering, biomaterials science, biomechanics, and reproductive biology, we engineer models of the female reproductive system, including the endometrium, decidua, and vagina, to study pregnancy-related disorders and birth injuries. We use these tissue engineering models to understand cell-cell interactions, cell-matrix interactions, and hormone dynamics in the context of early pregnancy and vaginal tearing during childbirth. To mimic, instruct, and define the cellular microenvironment in the female reproductive tract, we use gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels and composites. We perform sophisticated material characterization with spherical nanoindentation and define the effects of biomechanical properties on cellular behavior and the effect of cells on hydrogel mechanical properties. We demonstrated that GelMA hydrogel platforms are adaptable for studying dynamic endometrial processes, including endometrial angiogenesis, hormone responsiveness (e.g., decidualization of endometrial stromal cells), epithelial monolayer formation in a stratified tissue model, and trophoblast invasion. We also established a three-dimensional model of the vaginal epithelium by incorporating primary human vaginal epithelial cells in gelatin-elastin fiber composites impregnated with GelMA hydrogels. Our ongoing studies seek to advance these existing model systems into complex, three-dimensional tissue mimics of the endometrium and vagina for not only basic science purposes but also for regenerative medicine applications. "