Stem Cell Technology Regenerates Soft Tissue - Dr. Sashank Reddy | Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund

In the Reddy lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Sashank Reddy and his colleagues are developing nanomaterials and stem cell-based technologies to improve soft tissue regeneration for patients who have had damaged or lost tissues due to trauma, surgery, and soft tissue-related defects.

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Soft tissues are the first line of defense for the body as well as play a role in everyday communication, such as facial expressions. However, soft tissues can be damaged by trauma, excised as a part of treatments for skin disease (e.g. melanomas), or deteriorate with aging.

Additionally, these tissues are subjected to normal wear and tear from natural sources, including UV light, cuts, burns, and environmental causes. Soft tissues are also especially important in communication, as the soft tissues of our face are involved in conveying expression. Therefore, having control over soft tissue regeneration is important for restoring these communicative regions to as close to their pre-damage state as possible.

Current tissue regeneration technologies generate relatively “young” tissues and, as a result, homeostasis of the newly regenerated tissues is difficult to maintain. To tune tissue growth and maturity, Dr. Reddy’s lab at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine is studying the developmental progression of soft tissues.

Within our body, our cells form a network that acts as the scaffold upon which new tissue is built. The Reddy lab is developing nanomaterials that simulate that scaffold, providing tracks for the growth of new tissue that can direct cell regeneration.

Another problem Dr. Reddy and his lab are trying to address for soft tissue replacement, such as tissue grafts, is immune rejection. When the body receives an allogenic transplant or a transplant of materials from a donor, the body is more likely to reject that tissue. To overcome the rejection of donor materials, Dr. Reddy and his colleagues are harvesting the patient’s own adipocytes (fat cells) and adipose-derived stem cells, via liposuction, generating new stem cells. These newly generated stem cells may be re-implanted under conditions that will promote soft-tissue differentiation and development.

While this technique sounds simple, soft-tissue generation is difficult to direct, especially in areas such as the face where grafts may significantly impact the patient’s quality of life.

To more effectively direct soft-tissue regeneration, the Reddy lab has been developing nanomaterials that behave like soft tissues. These nanomaterials have an open, porous structure that encourages stem cells to fill the volume and promote cell survival. These materials may also be tailored to meet the needs of the soft tissue environment to help with cell differentiation and function, complementing the developmental cell and homeostasis work of the Reddy lab.

In addition to running his own lab, Dr. Reddy is the Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures’ (JHTV) Senior Medical Director, providing tools and expertise to help propel other researchers in developing technologies, treatments, and cures. Dr. Reddy credits the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) not only for supporting his own research but also for facilitating his JHTV role in supporting other Maryland-based investigators.

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