Johnna Temenoff
Georgia Institute of Technology, GA·Biomedical Engineering
Stem cell therapies could help the body repair damaged bone and muscle, but transplanted cells often work poorly. They may not survive or stay where they are placed, and they can lose potency during growth in the lab.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
biomaterials
mesenchymal stem cells
mitochondria transfer
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Sep 2027
What they work on
- Test whether attaching transactivator of transcription (TAT) peptides, which help cargo enter cells, to donor mitochondria increases their uptake and bone formation by precursor cells in culture.
- Examine how the release rate of mitochondria from degradable hydrogel microparticles affects uptake by co-delivered mesenchymal stem cells in a rat critical-sized calvarial (skull) defect.
- Determine whether controlled mitochondria delivery improves bone healing in a rat critical-sized calvarial defect model.
- Evaluate how the biochemical composition of microparticle carriers affects metabolism and replicative senescence of human mesenchymal stem cells during expansion, using metabolomics-based screening.
- Measure how carrier composition alters secretion of pro-regenerative factors by human MSCs, then test transplanted MSC-carrier combinations for supraspinatus muscle regeneration after tendon reattachment in rats.
More about the research
The research here designs biomaterials, engineered materials that interact with cells, so that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) become more effective healers. MSCs are adult stem cells that can form bone and other tissues. The projects target craniofacial bone defects and rotator cuff muscle damage, and they connect to a national effort to make therapeutic cells at large scale.
Why it matters
Patients with skull and facial bone defects from trauma or birth defects, whose grafts often fail to close, could benefit from better cell-based bone therapies. Rotator cuff tears affect about 20% of people, and these patients could see improved muscle recovery after surgical repair. More reliable, affordable manufacturing of therapeutic cells could help cell therapies for musculoskeletal, cancer and heart conditions reach more patients.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
William Chen
University of South Dakota, SD·Biomedical Engineering
Engineer mouse bone marrow MSCs carrying synthetic genetic circuits that detect inflammatory signals, improve MSC survival and shift tissue inflammation from destructive to constructive, tested in cell, organoid and animal models.
Michael Alvarez
University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, PR·Biomedical Engineering
Develop a scalable, AI-enabled bioreactor platform for growing mesenchymal stem cells (adult stem cells used in therapies) and collecting their extracellular vesicles, small particles cells release.
Ibrahim Ozbolat
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Biomedical Engineering
Test whether vascular micropuncture, making tiny needle holes in the sagittal sinus vein, speeds vascularization of skull defects in rats, measured with laser Doppler, angiography and immunohistochemistry.
The school
Georgia Institute of Technology: 50 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 572 research doctorates a year.
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