Jennifer Puetzer
Virginia Commonwealth University, VA·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Collagen fibers give tendons, ligaments and menisci (the cartilage pads in the knee) their strength. Cells build these fibers in levels, from fibrils a few nanometers wide up to larger fibers and bundles called fascicles.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Physiology
Engineering
- Topics
collagen
extracellular matrix
mechanobiology
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Feb 2028
What they work on
- Evaluate how focal adhesion kinase (FAK), a contraction-signaling enzyme, and the stretch-activated ion channels TRPV4 and Piezo1 each contribute to hierarchical collagen fiber formation by ligament fibroblasts in static culture, by inhibiting or activating each pathway.
- Determine how the roles of FAK, TRPV4 and Piezo1 change under dynamic mechanical stimulation, measuring collagen organization at fibril, fiber and fascicle scales, proteoglycan accumulation and collagen crosslinking.
- Test whether slow strains of 0.1–1 mm per day, mimicking postnatal growth, drive native-like hierarchical collagen organization and matrix maturation in engineered ligament grown in the lab's culture system.
- Test whether rapid intermittent cyclic strains of 1–2 mm per second that mimic muscle activity, alone and combined with slow growth strains, produce stronger engineered ligament, assessed by collagen organization, matrix composition and mechanics.
More about the research
The fibers grow bigger and stronger as mechanical demands increase. After an injury, these fibers do not regrow, and engineered tissue replacements lack them, so repair options for torn tissues are poor. The lab's long-term goal is to understand how cells build collagen fibers, so that functional replacements can be engineered and repair can be driven inside the body. Both projects use a culture system the lab developed, which guides ligament cells to produce native-size fibrils, fibers and fascicles over six weeks.
Why it matters
Torn tendons, ligaments and menisci heal poorly because their collagen fibers do not regenerate. Learning how mechanical cues drive fiber formation could help engineer stronger ligament replacements. It could also point to therapeutic targets such as FAK, TRPV4 or Piezo1 for regenerating fibers and reducing scarring, and could inform rehabilitation protocols that restore function after musculoskeletal injuries.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Nathaniel Dyment
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Biomedical Engineering
Measure how long the hedgehog pathway activator SAG is released from BiLDS scaffolds and whether it stays biologically active, using an in vitro release study.
Jian Liu
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Biophysics
Determine how force transmission at a focal adhesion and elongation of its attached stress fiber cross-talk to produce stiffness sensing, by comparing mathematical model predictions with traction measurements.
Matthew B Fisher
North Carolina State University, NC·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how ACL reconstruction technique (epiphyseal, complete transphyseal or partial transphyseal, differing in how they cross the bone's growth plate) affects knee stability and joint degeneration at different stages of skeletal maturity, using a growing pig model.
The school
Virginia Commonwealth University: 19 labs on PI Pages, $524M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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