Omid Veiseh
Rice University, TX·Biomedical Engineering
About 40% of breast cancer survivors develop breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). In this lifelong condition, damaged lymphatic vessels (the drainage system that returns fluid from tissues) can no longer clear fluid, so the arm swells.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Materials Science
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
lymphedema
breast cancer survivorship
lymphatic regeneration
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2029
What they work on
- Make 3D alginate methacrylate (AlMA) hydrogels and optimize the dose of engineered cells that secrete VEGF-C, a lymphatic growth signal, to improve lymphatic vessel guidance and regeneration in living animals.
- Modify AlMA hydrogels with an anti-fibrotic small molecule so they resist the foreign body response, the immune scarring of implants, and keep the loaded cells alive in rodent models.
- Test whether the cell-loaded hydrogel graft restores lymph flow and reduces limb swelling in rodent and pig hindlimb lymphedema models.
- Use intravital microscopy, real-time imaging in living tissue, to study how the foreign body response and lymphatic regeneration unfold around the implant.
More about the research
There is no cure. Compression garments only manage symptoms and can cause infections and tissue damage. Microsurgery has its own limits, and engineered implants often trigger the foreign body response, an immune reaction that walls off implants with scar tissue (fibrosis). This multi-investigator project aims to build an implant that regrows lymphatic vessels without being rejected.
Why it matters
Breast cancer-related lymphedema affects about 40% of breast cancer survivors, and current care only manages symptoms. An implantable gel that resists rejection and releases a lymph-vessel growth signal could one day offer a way to restore fluid drainage instead of relying on lifelong compression. If preclinical results hold, this could reduce swelling, infections and hospital stays for these survivors.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ian Pitha
University of Utah, UT·Biomedical Engineering
Determine how glaucoma drainage implant composition, design and nanoscale surface architecture affect foreign-body and scarring (fibrotic) responses, using a versatile manufacturing platform that makes implants with varied materials and textures.
Aaron Morris
University of Michigan, MI·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Optimize hydrogel-based synthetic tertiary lymphoid structures (synTLS), 3D scaffolds that mimic immune tissue, and test how T cell receptor signals, stiffness, and metabolic cues affect conversion of T cells into stable Tregs.
Greg Harris
University of Cincinnati, OH·Biomedical Engineering
Quantify and control the electric potential generated by piezoelectric PVDF-TrFE scaffolds in response to remote ultrashock activation and mechanical stimulation.
The school
Rice University: 24 labs on PI Pages, $278M a year on research, 267 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.