The Role of Viscous Drag in Directing Vascular Morphogenesis (2024)
Undergraduate: Abel Abraham
Faculty Advisor: William Polacheck
Department: Joint Biomedical Engineering
It has been well-established that the flow of interstitial fluid across the vascular wall can direct the growth of new blood vessels. However, there is considerable debate regarding t he mechanism by which the cells sense and respond to these flows. Previous work in the lab has demonstrated that in solid tumor cells, viscous drag imparted by interstitial flow is a critical morphogenic signal. The overarching hypothesis for this project is that drag imparted by interstitial flow drives the morphogenesis of blood vessels. We use microfluidic models of blood vasculature to develop analytical and finite element models for determing the forces imparted by interstitial flow on endothelial cells. This will determine future experiments unveiling underlying biological mechanisms.