Research And Development Project Assistant
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Multiscale investigation of the behavior of heart valve interstitial cells in response to pathological shape and mechanical stimulationProject 1: Developed single cell model and tailored cell shape to study the inter-relationship between pathological cell structure and cell functionTechniques used: Primary cell culture|| Photolithography||Microcontact printing||Immunofluorescence|| Traction force microscopy||Two-photon redox imagingPublication: Lam, N. T., Muldoon, T. J., Quinn, K. P., Rajaram, N., & Balachandran, K. (2016). Valve interstitial cell contractile strength and metabolic state are dependent on its shape. Integrative Biology, 8(10), 1079-1089.Project 2: Developed collagen-based hydrogel for 3D culturing of heart valve interstitial cells in the presence of uniaxial cyclic stretchTechniques used: Scanning electron microscopy || Swelling and degradation studies || MTT assay || Cell viability/Cytotoxicity assay || Gelatin zymography || SDS-PAGE || Western blot ||Publication: Lam, N. T., Lam, H., Sturdivant, N. M., & Balachandran, K. (2017). Fabrication of a matrigel–collagen semi-interpenetrating scaffold for use in dynamic valve interstitial cell culture. Biomedical Materials, 12(4), 045013.Project 3: Investigated the stretch-mediated signaling pathway in heart valve interstitial cells using 3D modelTechniques used: Immunohistochemistry||Drug dose determination studies || Pharmacological inhibition|| Western blot || qRT-PCR || Immunofluorescent staining|| Two-photon redox imagingPublication: The role of FGF1 and FGF2 on the pathological behavior of valve interstitial cells in a three-dimensional mechanically-conditioned model (In print).