Mai Ngo, PhD

Position title: Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering

Organ System/Disease Focus: Neurovascular
Aligned Research Focus: Tissue and cell engineering to generate vascularized tissues, with a emphasis on neurovascular tissue to study neurodevelopment, regeneration, and disease

Research Description:

My lab is interested in building vascularized tissue microenvironments to model developmental, regenerative, and disease processes. We are particularly interested in the neurovascular tissue microenvironment. Neural stem cells have been shown to reside next to vasculature during development and regeneration; however, the mechanisms by which vascular signaling regulates neural stem cell behavior remain unknown. Thus, we are interested in developing in vitro models of neurovascular tissue, in order to understand how neural stem cell self-renewal, quiescence, and differentiation are controlled by biophysical, biochemical, and cellular signals that are produced by brain vasculature. Using these biological insights, we aim to re-purpose our engineered tissue models as implantable therapies for neurovascular regeneration. Here, we will combine tissue and cell engineering strategies to generate implantable tissues that present biophysical and biochemical signals and control cell-cell signaling to regulate neural stem cell behavior in vivo. We will also use our toolkit to develop biomanufacturing strategies to control neural stem cell expansion and differentiation in vitro. Finally, we are interested in developing models of the blood-brain barrier to study its development, function, and dysregulation during neurological diseases. We will use stem cell-derived sources for brain microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes to develop these models.

Selected References:

1. Ngo MT, Barnhouse VR, Gilchrist AE, Mahadik BP, Hunter CJ, Hensold JN, Petrikas N, Harley BAC. Hydrogels Containing Gradients in Vascular Density Reveal Dose-Dependent Role of Angiocrine Cues on Stem Cell Behavior. Adv Funct Mater. 2021 Dec 16;31(51). doi: 10.1002/adfm.202101541. Epub 2021 Sep 17. PubMed PMID: 35558090; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9090181.

2. Gilchrist AE, Serrano JF, Ngo MT, Hrnjak Z, Kim S, Harley BAC. Encapsulation of murine hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in a thiol-crosslinked maleimide-functionalized gelatin hydrogel. Acta Biomater. 2021 Sep 1;131:138-148. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2021.06.028. Epub 2021 Jun 20. PubMed PMID: 34161871; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8373770.

3. Dewey MJ, Kolliopoulos V, Ngo MT, Harley BAC. Glycosaminoglycan content of a mineralized collagen scaffold promotes mesenchymal stem cell secretion of factors to modulate angiogenesis and monocyte differentiation. Materialia (Oxf). 2021 Aug;18. doi: 10.1016/j.mtla.2021.101149. Epub 2021 Jun 18. PubMed PMID: 34368658; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8336934.

4. Ngo MT, Harley BAC. Angiogenic biomaterials to promote therapeutic regeneration and investigate disease progression. Biomaterials. 2020 Oct;255:120207. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120207. Epub 2020 Jun 14. Review. PubMed PMID: 32569868; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7396313.

5. Ngo MT, Harley BAC. Progress in mimicking brain microenvironments to understand and treat neurological disorders. APL Bioeng. 2021 Jun;5(2):020902. doi: 10.1063/5.0043338. eCollection 2021 Jun. PubMed PMID: 33869984; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8034983.