This paper introduces a hydrogel platform with reversible stiffness tuning and cell recovery capabilities to study mechanobiological effects on cell behavior and transcriptome responses.

bioRxiv · Apr 4, 2024 · PreprintBioengineering

Grayscale 4D Biomaterial Customization at High Resolution and Scale

I. Batalov, J. R. Filteau, R. M. Francis, G. Jaindl, L. Orr, T. L. Rapp, S. Yang, J. A. Filteau, W. Xie, R. C. Bretherton, A. K. Glaser, J. T. C. Liu, K. R. Stevens, C. A. DeForest

This paper introduces GIZMO, a method to create 3D grayscale hydrogel patterns for more realistic tissue engineering.

bioRxiv · Jan 31, 2024 · PreprintBioengineering

Versatile Tissue-Injectable Hydrogels with Extended Hydrolytic Release of Bioactive Protein Therapeutics

E. S. Nealy, S. J. Reed, B. A. Badeau, S. M. Adelmund, J. A. Shadish, F. J. Pakiam, E. J. Girard, J. P. Price, A. J. Mhyre, V. Kalia, S. Sarkar, C. A. DeForest, J. M. Olson

This paper develops injectable hydrogels that enable controlled, extended release of protein therapeutics through hydrolysable linkers, demonstrating efficacy in a mouse melanoma model.

bioRxiv · Sep 1, 2023 · PreprintBioengineering

De novo design of modular protein hydrogels with programmable intra- and extracellular viscoelasticity

R. Mout, R. C. Bretherton, J. Decarreau, S. Lee, N. I. Edman, M. Ahlrichs, Y. Hsia, D. D. Sahtoe, G. Ueda, N. Gregorio, A. Sharma, R. Schulman, C. A. DeForest, D. Baker

This paper designs modular protein hydrogels with tunable viscoelasticity by controlling molecular parameters and demonstrates their use both intra- and extracellularly.

bioRxiv · Jun 2, 2023Bioengineering

Highly Parallel Tissue Grafting for Combinatorial In Vivo Screening

C. E. O'Connor, A. Neufeld, C. L. Fortin, F. Johansson, J. Mene, S. H. Saxton, S. P. Simmonds, I. Kopyeva, N. E. Gregario, C. A. DeForest, D. M. Witten, K. R. Stevens

This study introduces a high-throughput in vivo screening platform for testing microtissue formulations and identifies material-dependent cellular interactions that support vascular self-assembly.

bioRxiv · Mar 16, 2023 · PreprintBioengineering

Correcting dilated cardiomyopathy with fibroblast-targeted p38 deficiency

R. C. Bretherton, I. M. Reichardt, K. A. Zabrecky, A. J. Goldstein, L. R. J. Bailey, D. Bugg, T. S. McMillen, K. B. Kooiker, G. Flint, A. Martinson, J. Gunaje, F. Koser, W. A. Linke, M. Regnier, F. Moussavi-Harami, , J. Davis

This study shows that targeting p38 in cardiac fibroblasts can reverse fibrosis and improve cardiomyocyte function in a mouse model of dilated cardiomyopathy.

bioRxiv · Jan 23, 2023 · PreprintCell Biology

Magnetically-Propelled Fecal Surrogates for Modeling the Impact of Solid-Induced Shear Forces on Primary Colonic Epithelial Cells

S. S. Hinman, J. Huling, Y. Wang, H. Wang, R. C. Bretherton, C. A. DeForest, N. L. Allbritton

This paper develops magnetically propelled fecal surrogates to study the impact of solid-induced shear forces on colonic epithelial cells, finding that these forces modulate mucus production and cytokine secretion without harming cell viability.

bioRxiv · Feb 18, 2021Bioengineering

Fibroblast State Reversal By MBNL1-Dependent Transcriptome Modification Regulates Cardiac Repair

D. Bugg, R. Bretherton, K. Beach, A. Reese, J. Gunaje, G. Flint, C. A. DeForest, A. Stempien-Otero, J. Davis

This study shows that MBNL1 regulates fibroblast state transitions in cardiac repair, with overexpression preventing fibrosis and loss reverting cells to a progenitor state.

bioRxiv · Jan 26, 2021 · PreprintCell Biology