Dr. Chandra Kothapalli, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering (CBE), has been awarded $299,991 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research to better understand spinal cord injuries and the effect of scar formation on the physical, chemical, and biological changes occurring over time in the injured tissues. The project, titled "Glial scar morphology informed tunable biomimetic platforms for spinal cord injury repair," is a collaborative research effort in partnership with Dr. Nic Leipzig from the University of Akron.

Injury to the central nervous system (CNS) has profound, long-term physiological consequences due to the tissue's low innate regenerative ability and formation of a glial scar around the injury site. This research study will focus on (1) understanding spinal cord tissue-scale mechanical properties, architecture, and mechanochemical signaling at key phases following CNS injury, and (2) identifying the mechanochemical response of CNS cells to scar-like physical properties.

Article orginally appeared in the CSU Office of Research Newsletter, Volume 8, Issue7.

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