Kristyn S. Masters, PHD
Position title: Professor. Biomedical Engineering
Email: kmasters@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-265-4052
- Organ System/Disease Focus:
- Cardiovascular development and disease.
- Aligned Research Focus:
- Heart Valve Tissue Engineering and Angiogenesis.
More information:
Research Description:
The Masters lab employs techniques from biomaterials, tissue engineering, bioconjugate chemistry, gene editing, and microfabrication, to create in vitro environments that model disease progression. We then apply molecular and cellular biology and computational tools to examine cell/tissue outcomes in these biomimetic culture platforms. Through this approach, we seek to decipher disease pathogenesis, with the intent of using this knowledge to inform the design of clinical therapies. We have a particular interest in using these models to study cellular-scale sex differences and the role of sex hormones in disease onset and progression.
Selected References:
- Scott AJ, Simon LR, Hutson HN, Porras AM*, Masters KS*. Engineering the aortic valve extracellular matrix through stages of development, aging, and disease. J Mol Cell Cardiol, 2021; 161:1-8.
- Nelson V, Patil V, Simon LR, Schmidt K, McCoy CM, Masters KS*. Angiogenic Secretion Profile of Valvular Interstitial Cells Varies with Cellular Sex and Phenotype. Front Cardiovasc Med, 2021; 8:736303.
- Simon LR, Masters KS*. Disease-inspired tissue engineering: investigation of cardiovascular pathologies. ACS Biomater Sci Eng, 2020; 6:2518-32.
- Micek HM, Visetsouk MR, Masters KS, Kreeger PK*. Engineering the Extracellular Matrix to Model the Evolving Tumor Microenvironment. iScience, 2020; 23(11): 101742.
- Berger AJ, Linsmeier KM, Kreeger PK*, Masters KS*. Decoupling the effects of stiffness and fiber density on cellular behaviors via an interpenetrating network of gelatin-methacrylate and collagen. Biomaterials, 2017; 141: 125-135.