MCS Featured Lab - October 2020

Research Description:

The Microvascular Dynamics Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of Florida is focused on providing new views for understanding the cellular and molecular dynamics involved in the growth of microvascular networks. Watching cells across spatial and temporal scales is critical for functional tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Our passion is making scientific discoveries by developing new bioengineering approaches. At the intersection of tissue engineering, biomechanics and physiology, we focus on identifying cell dynamics involved in how microvascular networks grow and what goes wrong during disease states. Our most recent publications highlight the ability of lymphatic vessels to turn into blood vessels, the ability to grow nerves and blood vessels together in a culture dish, and the effect of aging on stem cell to pericyte fate.

Lab Website:

https://www.bme.ufl.edu/labs/murfee/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lee_murfee

Top lesson you have learned in your career:

Good question - I do not think lessons are shared enough! Here are three that immediately come to mind. 1) You do not need to know everything to have good ideas. 2) A big part of science is storytelling and your story does not need to be complete. 3) Most people are really nice and those who are not are usually caught up in all the negative pressures that come along with the job (too bad for them).

Recent Publications:

• Hodges NA, Barr RW, Murfee WL. The maintenance of adult peripheral adult nerve and microvascular networks in the rat mesentery culture model. J Neurosci Methods. 2020 Sep 1:108923. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108923. (PMID: 32888964)
• Azimi MS, Motherwell JM, Dutreil M, Fishel RL, Nice M, Hodges NA, Bunnell BA, Katz A, Murfee WL. A novel tissue culture model for evaluating the effect of aging on stem cell fate in adult microvascular networks. Geroscience. 2020 Apr;42(2):515-526. (PMID: 32206968)
• Azimi MS, Motherwell JM, Hodges NA, Rittenhouse GR, Majbour D, Porvasnik SL, Schmidt CE, Murfee WL. Lymphatic-to-blood vessel transition in adult microvascular networks: A discovery made possible by a top-down approach to biomimetic model development. Microcirculation. 2020 Feb;27(2):e12595. doi: 10.1111/micc.12595. (PMID: 31584728)