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BE Seminar – “Scaffold-Modulated Healing in Irradiated Bone” (Katie Hixon, Dartmouth Engineering)

February 27, 2025 at 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Details
Date: February 27, 2025
Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Event Category: Seminar
  • Event Tags:,
  • Organizer
    Bioengineering
    Phone: 215-898-8501
    Venue
    Berger Auditorium (Room 13), Skirkanich Hall 210 South 33rd Street
    Philadelphia
    PA 19104
    Google Map

    Bone is the third most common site for cancer metastasis, affecting ~66% of patients with common cancers—breast, lung, prostate, renal, thyroid—incurring skeletal events in up to 400,000 people in the US/year. Metastatic bone disease (MBD) results in weakened bone, leading to refractory pain and pathological fracture that increase disease state morbidity. Despite bone tissue’s dynamic nature and robust capability to remodel and regenerate following injury, MBD-affected bone does not heal according to normal principles, with average fracture healing rates for pathological fractures reported to be 8% at six months following injury. Further, the use of bone grafts for treatment offers additional complications including infection potential and donor site morbidity, where an improved treatment option is necessary. To combat this, cryogel scaffolds have been identified as ideal constructs to support bone formation following traumatic injury/disease. Preliminary work by our group has shown that cryogels do not lose their advantageous physical properties following radiation therapy (RT). Therefore, our overall premise is that MBD patients require alternative treatment options to i) improve bone formation and ii) accelerate healing. The central hypothesis of this study is that chitosan/gelatin cryogels will induce osseointegration and bone formation in MBD patients, while modulating tissue damage caused by RT. This hypothesis is based on current literature reviews, as well as previously published work by our group demonstrating cryogels and animal models for studying and improving bone formation. Our approach for creating a cost-effective, time-sensitive, and biologically improved targeted treatment option consists of optimized cryogel fabrication for MBD patients.