Shannon Dame
Research Mentor(s): Russell Urie
Department or Program: Biomedical Engineering
Authors: Shannon Dame, Bryan Wonski, Russell Urie, and Lonnie Shea
Session: Session 2: 1:00pm-1:50pm
Poster: 13
Abstract
The uterus is uniquely considered both an alloimmune and autoimmune organ due to its vital immunological roles during processes like pregnancy and menstruation. Although the inflammatory mechanisms are not yet widely understood, alloimmune responses in the uterine and placental environments during pregnancy lead to complications such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction, and autoimmune responses to endometrial tissue outside of the uterus during menstruation lead to the debilitating condition of endometriosis. There is a great need for a minimally invasive method of surveilling the uterine immune environment and predicting complications to improve prenatal health and reduce pelvic pain. In this work, we employ microporous polymeric scaffolds as implanted synthetic immune sites to remotely monitor the uterine-specific immune responses in a series of allogeneic and syngeneic murine models of intrauterine inflammation and endometriosis. Preliminary data indicate that these minimally invasive scaffolds distinguish these immune environments through their dynamic cell phenotypes and gene expression. We will continue to develop this minimally invasive implant as a personalized diagnostic tool for uterine immunological complications and pave the way for future women’s health research in pregnancy and endometriosis.
