
Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), Carnegie Mellon University
Mailing address:
700 Technology Drive
Room 4307
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Email: shs149@pitt.edu
Phone: 412-648-9804
Other Affiliations:
Department of Bioengineering, UPMC-Hillman Cancer Center, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine
MEMBERS
Shilpa Sant, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
Research Interests
The central research theme is to develop physiologically relevant three-dimensional microenvironments with the goal to elucidate how microenvironmental factors drive cellular behaviors in disease progression as well as in repair/regeneration. Our research interests are driven by a desire to develop effective therapies to halt disease progression or harness normal repair/regeneration by instructing the patient’s own cells. We utilize interdisciplinary biomaterial-, molecular/cell biology- and micro/nanotechnology-based approaches to achieve our research goals.
Current projects in the lab include: 1) Role of tumor-intrinsic hypoxia in emergence of migratory phenotype, with specific focus on collective migration and partial/hybrid epithelial-mesenchymal transition; 2) Role of ectopic calcification in breast cancer progression; 3) Development of bioinspired biomaterials for regenerative medicine with focus on hard tissues like bone and teeth and disease modeling; 4) Development of brain organoids to study HIV neuropathogenesis.
Technique Expertise or Resources to share
Three-dimensional co-culture models, biomaterials/hydrogel fabrication, brain organoids, mechanical testing
Keywords
Biomaterials, Engineered disease models, cell-cell interaction, cell-ECM interaction, Breast cancer, nanomaterials, Hydrogels, Brain organoids
Laboratory
Lab website: http://pharmacy.pitt.edu/directory/profile.php?profile=1033
Lab Members
Catalina Ardilla | Postdoctoral fellow | dca18@pitt.edu |
Vaishali Aggarwal | Postdoctoral fellow | vaa30@pitt.edu |