Karen Dubbin
Materials Science & Engineering
Bio-X Bowes Fellow 2013/2014
Profs. Sarah Heilshorn (Materials Science & Engineering), Giles Plant (Neurosurgery), and Andrew Spakowitz (Chemical Engineering)

Following injury to the central nervous system (CNS), the primary trauma is surrounded by a microenvironment that inhibits axonal regeneration. This contrasts with injury to the peripheral nervous system (PNS) where regeneration is possible. One novel approach to spinal cord injury therapy is to mimic the microenvironment of the PNS in the CNS through delivery of proregenerative factors or cells known to aid in regeneration in the PNS. We propose engineering an injectable protein hydrogel as a delivery mechanism for spinal cord injury, which is ideal due to its injectability, degradability, cell protective qualities and function as a growth matrix.