Engineering Neural Repair: Microfluidics at the Interface of Regeneration and Disease

Speaker:

Maribel Vazquez, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Rutgers University

Abstract:

Restoring function after injury or disease in the nervous system remains one of the most persistent challenges in medicine. In conditions such as retinal degeneration and peripheral nerve damage, the limited ability of neurons and supporting cells to regenerate or properly integrate into existing tissue continues to hinder effective therapies. A central question is how to guide cell behavior in complex, dynamic microenvironments to promote repair. --- In her presentation, Prof. Vazquez will present an engineering approach that uses microfluidic systems to recreate and precisely control the cellular environments that drive neural repair. Microfluidics enables the generation of well-defined chemical and electrical gradients at the microscale, allowing researchers to study how individual cells and cell populations migrate, interact, and respond to external cues under physiologically relevant conditions. --- The talk will highlight several applications of these platforms. In the retina, microfluidic models are used to investigate how Müller glia regulate barrier function and respond to injury, as well as how photoreceptor precursor cells can be guided to improve transplantation efficiency. Complementary studies examine collective migration and signaling in neural progenitors, revealing mechanisms that influence integration into host tissue. Together, these approaches provide new insight into how engineered microenvironments can direct cell behavior across the central, visual, and peripheral nervous systems. --- These advances point toward a future in which micro-engineered systems not only illuminate fundamental biology but also enable the design of more effective, cell-based therapies for neural repair and regeneration.

Professor Vazquez received her Sc.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her B.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a mechanical engineer at Intel Corporation. She previously served on the faculty at City College of New York, where she was a co-founding member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Professor Vazquez’s contributions have been widely recognized. She was elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2020 and has received multiple awards for excellence in research, mentoring, and education, including the President’s Award for Excellence at CCNY. Her work is supported by the NIH, NSF, and the U.S. Department of Defense, and she is widely recognized for her leadership in advancing diversity and mentoring in biomedical engineering.