Juana Mendenhall, PhD
Morehouse College
Vice Provost of Academic Innovation & Learning
Walter E. Massey Professor
Abstract:
The development of inks for engineered tissues using additive manufacturing requires comparable mimicking of chemical and mechanical properties to recapitulate structure and properties at varies length scales. Hence, there is a need to create synthetic tissues that provide heterogeneous and complex organization that can facilitate cell structure and patterning by designing chemical structure that can facilitate cellular organization and chemotaxis. Towards this end, the development of composite inks that can facilitate biological molecules to guide cell orientation, proliferation, and tissue formation in 3D printed constructs is essential. Recent advances in 3D bioprinting in the Mendenhall laboratory at Morehouse college has enabled the spatial patterning of both cells and materials to achieve functional gradients. This presentation will discuss the spatial and temporal patterning of biomaterials doped with nanomaterials such as cerium oxide to guide cellular orientation in 3D printed constructs while influencing biological markers that regulate cellular metabolism. Further, we will discuss the effect of functional stratification in 3D printed constructs using a combination of FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) microscopy and microrheology to identify functional groups that effect mechanical properties.
Bio:
Dr. Juana Mendenhall is the Vice Provost of Academic Innovation and the Walter E. Massey Professor of Physical Sciences at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. Professor Mendenhall is a results-oriented administrator at Morehouse where she is the Director and Principal Investigator of the Smart Biomaterials Lab, President and Founder of TheraViscTM, LLC, a company specializing in developing viscosupplement injectable gels to help with knee injuries, the TEDx licensee for TEDx Morehouse College, an educator, and scholar. Her ground-breaking patent-pending medical technology is one of the first medical technologies to show real potential in regenerating articular cartilage to mitigate joint diseases. Mendenhall is a champion for diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging in the classroom and research lab. She believes in innovative pedagogy, training, and scholarship for all students!
Morehouse College houses Dr. Mendenhall’s research lab, the Smart Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering lab, which creates pivotal solutions using tissue engineering strategies to treat and prevent Osteoarthritis. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), this work includes bioprinting hydrogels for tissue engineering and cellular therapies. Notably, Mendenhall collaborates with researchers at Washington State University, Cornell University, and Duke University. Additionally, Mendenhall’s polymer research is funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) – Energy Science Experimental and Modeling (ESEM) to model and prepare nuclear materials for molecular imprinting to mitigate nuclear waste with work done in tandem with other MSIs and national lab partners at Los Alamos National Lab and Pacific Northwest National Lab. More recently, Mendenhall received funding from NSF with Purdue University (lead) to establish the EMBRIO (Emergent Mechanisms in Biology of Robustness, Integration, and Organization). This multi-institutional institute will determine how living systems take multidomain “orthogonal” signals (chemical and mechanical stimuli) and integrate these signals to develop responsive phenotypes that coordinate cell and tissue structure for persistence and survival. In this project, Mendenhall’s team will study and model calcium signaling in 3D scaffolds at various lengths scales.
As a science educator and researcher, she fosters minority training and economical job growth by developing technical training and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for minorities and marginalized groups. Under her tutelage, Morehouse students have won numerous national and regional conference awards for their work in the Mendenhall research lab. Dr. Mendenhall is known for her commitment to exposing underrepresented minorities to science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and the health sciences (HS). Her mantra is to set a tangible example of leadership for minorities to inspire their interest in STEM and encourage them to pursue degrees and careers in STEM. During her tenure at Morehouse, she has served as department chair, chair of the faculty research committee, a faculty development fellow, graduate student advisor, and served on dissertation research committees, in addition to mentoring postdoctoral fellows via the FIRST (Fellowships in Research and Teaching) from Emory University. More recently, she created (Editor-in-Chief), the Journal of HBCU/MSI Undergraduate Research to allow undergraduate students early exposure to the peer-review journal process.
Dr. Mendenhall received her Bachelor of Science degree from North Carolina A&T State University. After graduating from NC A&T, she worked in the polymer industrial field until she decided to pursue her doctorate in polymer chemistry at Clark Atlanta University, where she completed her program in 2006. This graduate experience led to her receiving numerous awards in polymer chemistry from organizations such as the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the NSF. In recognition of her graduate work, Dr. Mendenhall received a Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship to work at Cornell University. Following this fellowship, she was accepted into Emory University’s Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) fellowship. The FIRST fellowship teaches scientists how to become better science teachers while doing research.
Dr. Mendenhall has received several awards throughout her career from organizations such as the American Chemical Society, National Science Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and the American Society of Cell Biology. She is a reviewer for several scientific journals and guest editor of the Bioengineering Journal. Mendenhall also serves on the board of non-profit companies such as the Black Bayou social justice organization. She has given numerous research talks domestically and internationally on her smart biomaterials research and published many articles in high-impact peer-reviewed journals. Her TEDx talk on the Future of Knee Repair is already changing the narrative for treating patients with knee problems such as Osteoarthritis!