The Future of Stem Cell Research and Cartilage Damage

Congratulations to this year’s IEM Engineering in Medicine Doctoral Fellowship recipient Huzefa Husain. Husain is a fifth year Biomedical Engineering PhD student in IEM Member Dr. Brenda Ogle’s lab, co-advised by Dr. Ferenc Toth, assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences.

His research focuses on cartilage tissue engineering with the long-term aim of repairing damaged articular cartilage, which can be caused by common joint injuries and aging. Left untreated, it can potentially develop into osteoarthritis. “Our goal is to use human induced pluripotent stem cells because they can be obtained non-invasively, have become easier to generate, and can be grown to a desired cell count,” says Husain. The broader team Husain is on is developing a 3D bioprinted tissue scaffold, containing protein components, to support stem cell derived cartilage. “The hope is to implant these cartilage embedded scaffolds into patients through a single step procedure,” says Husain, improving on most current therapies that take multiple procedures to complete.

Huzefa Husain in Dr. Brenda Ogle’s lab.