Bill Link BME Distinguished Lecture Series: Jane Grande-Allen, Rice University

Abstract: The focus of my research group is to comprehensively characterize and perturb the valvular tissue and cell phenotypes in normal and diseased heart valves, as the first major step in finding the causes of heart valve diseases and identifying the early stages and patients at risk to furthermore develope drugs for treatment and ultimately reduce incidence of the disease in the population. Our research has helped define the nascent field of valve mechanobiology and developed tools such as bioreactors to make these research studies possible. Our investigations have covered the distribution and regulation of extracellular matrix within the valve and how these are governed by the mechanical loads experienced by the cells within native valves, engineered valve tissues, or cells grown in 2-D cultures. More recently, we have begun to develop platforms to investigate the mechanobiology of valvular endothelial cells and the associated regulation of hemostatic behavior.

Bio:  Jane Grande-Allen is the Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University. Her research group develops experimental and biomaterial platforms to investigate the biomechanics and mechanobiology of soft connective tissues under healthy and diseased conditions, focusing on the extracellular matrix. Dr. Grande-Allen received a bachelor's degree in mathematics and biology from Transylvania University in 1991 and a doctorate in bioengineering from the University of Washington in 1998. Grande-Allen has been elected as Fellow of the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Heart Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Society for Experimental Mechanics. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the Society for Experimental Mechanics, and she is deputy editor-in-chief of the Annals of Biomedical Engineering.