GRIT Talks: Tiny Messengers in the Matrix: New Nanoparticles for Tissue Regeneration

The cells in our body are not suspended in space- these are surrounded by a meshwork of proteins and biological elements, called the extracellular matrix, which gives structure to the tissues throughout our body. Discoveries of elements and properties of this matrix have led to significant advances across many fields, including cancer and wound repair. Recently, a new biological element was discovered within this matrix and within organs throughout our body: a small nanoparticle termed matrix-bound nanovesicles. In my talk, I will focus on how we isolate these nanoparticles, what their purpose may be in our tissues, and how we can use these to make next-generation therapeutics to repair tissue injuries.

About the Speaker: Dr. Marley Dewey is an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California Santa Barbara. Dr. Dewey earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maine and her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. During her graduate career, she was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, won various art of science contests, and was awarded the Annual Innovation Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis from the University of Illinois. After her graduate career, she was a postdoctoral NIH TL1 Clinical and Translational Science Fellow at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Her lab combines biomaterials with extracellular vesicles, and specifically, a new type of extracellular vesicle found embedded within tissues throughout the body, termed matrix-bound nanovesicles. Her lab studies how biomaterials and extracellular vesicles can be leveraged to discover treatments for bone cancer, accelerate bone repair, prevent bone infection, and restore coral reefs. As an assistant professor, she has won various awards and research grants such as an NIH Maximizing Investigators Research Award (MIRA), a Hellman Family Faculty Fellowship, a Regents’ Junior Faculty Fellowship, and an Early Career Faculty Excellence Award.