 |
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, 2002
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Virginia
Box 800759 Health System, Room 2324
Charlottesville, VA 22908
shayn@virginia.edu
Laboratory web site
|
Research Interests
The microvasculature, a complex network of highly specialized
blood vessels, is capable of altering its structure and function to
regulate blood flow and accommodate the changing metabolic needs of
the body's tissues. This process, termed microvascular remodeling, is
important in physiological growth and development and in pathological
conditions, such as wound healing, tumor growth, and heart disease.
Microvascular remodeling requires the coordination of cellular
behaviors that are orchestrated by biochemical signals, such as growth
factors, and the extracellular matrix environment, and our lab studies
these interactions using both computational and experimental
techniques, including cellular automata simulations, small animal
models, confocal microscopy, intravital microscopy,
immunohistochemistry, cell culture techniques, flow cytometry
analysis, and real time RT-PCR. Specifically, we're interested in
identifying the roles of vascular progenitor cells in microvascular
remodeling, the mechanisms underling arterio/venous differentiation,
and the contributions of growth factor-extracellular matrix
interactions to this process.
Current research projects in our lab are focused on identifying
and characterizing a therapeutic role for human adipose-derived
multiprogenitor cells in the growth and maintenance of new
microvessels. Since human adipose-derived cells are readily available,
characterization of their behavior may yield novel therapeutic
approaches to many vascular diseases as well as knowledge of how
progenitor cells, in general, participate in microvascular
remodeling. We are also interested in studying the molecular signals
involved in perivasular cell recruitment to the ablumenal surface of
microvessels and their phenotypic differentiation, as well as the
mechanisms that determine microvessel identity with respect to
arterio/venous differentiation.
Selected Publications
Amos PJ, Shang H, Bailey AM, Taylor A, Katz AJ, Peirce SM.
IFATS Series: The Role of Human Adipose-Derived Stromal Cells in
Inflammatory Microvascular Remodeling and Evidence of a Perivascular
Phenotype.
Stem Cells. 2008 Apr 24. [Epub ahead of print]
Thorne BC, Bailey AM, DeSimone DW, Peirce SM.
Agent-based modeling of multicell morphogenic processes during development.
Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today. 2007 Dec;81(4):344-53. Review.
Taylor AC, Murfee WL, Peirce SM.
EphB4 expression along adult rat microvascular networks: EphB4 is more
than a venous specific marker.
Microcirculation. 2007 Apr-May;14(3):253-67.
Bailey AM, Thorne BC, Peirce SM.
Multi-cell agent-based simulation of the microvasculature to study the
dynamics of circulating inflammatory cell trafficking.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2007 Jun;35(6):916-36.
Peirce SM, Van Gieson EJ, Skalak TC.
Multicellular simulation predicts microvascular patterning and in
silico tissue assembly.
FASEB J. 2004 Apr;18(6):731-3.
PubMed listings for this faculty member
|
Back to the Faculty Page >> |
