Adaptations of Cells and Tissues to Spatiotemporally Dynamic Mechanical Environments

In recent years significant progress has been made towards understanding the molecular and cellular mechanism by which cells “feel” their environment. There exists a complex relationship between the behavior of a cell, its physical properties, and its surrounding environment. Materials and devices with the ability to characterize cells and tissues in time and in response to changing stimuli have the potential to reshape our understanding of how cells interact with their micro-environments as well as the coordination of biophysical cues and regulators. The research in my lab is focused on developing microdevices, sensors, and materials for studying this dynamic, time-varying behavior, with a focus on cardiovascular and musculoskeletal applications. The overall goal is to provide preclinical models by harnessing the interaction of structure and function through in-vitro models with the complexities of in-vivo conditions to ultimately inform and prioritize therapeutic strategies.

Elise A. Corbin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at University of Delaware. She received her BS degree in Engineering Science from the Pennsylvania State University and her MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering as an NSF IGERT Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she worked to develop BioMEMS devices for measuring single cell biomechanics. She was subsequently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Perelman School of Medicine Cardiovascular Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, where she developed cardiovascular tissue engineered models. Her lab at UD focuses on leveraging dynamic materials and engineered microdevices to study emergent time-dependent cellular responses, including healthy and disease models.