CAREER: Peristalsis Mechanobiology in the Uterine Endometrium

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research into how the movement of the uterus, called peristalsis, affects the cells in its inner lining. Many cells in the inner lining grow and shed in sync with this movement. The mechanics of the uterus may be key to this process because all cells in the body sense and respond to mechanical forces. Abnormal uterine movements may change growth rates and the immune environment, leading to problems in the uterus. Using a special device to apply uterine mechanics to different cells in the inner lining to investigate how these cells sense uterine movements and convert them into responses like growth, migration, and immune activation. The insights gained are likely to help better understand women's health issues like endometrial cancer, endometriosis, and adenomyosis. The project also includes educational programs. This combined research and education effort will help close gaps that exist in women's health research, engineering, and technology. This award will create new fundamental knowledge on how different cells in the uterine endometrium transduce the mechanics associated with uterine peristalsis using the peristalsis bioreactor, a device capable of applying mechanical patterns associated with uterine peristalsis to several types of cells in the uterine endometrium (endometrial cells, macrophages, etc.). The research team will isolate and experimentally interrogate if the mechanics of uterine peristalsis (or dysregulation thereof) results in endometrial cell motility or invasiveness, and the amplification of macrophage inflammation. The research approach integrates bioreactor methodology, gene expression and protein localization assays to investigate mechanobiological signal transduction pathways that contribute to aberrant cellular behavior in the uterine endometrium. The mechanobiological insights gained from these studies will advance the understanding of many conditions that impact women’s health outside of pregnancy like endometriosis, adenomyosis and endometrial cancer. In parallel, the research and integrated educational objectives plan to create programs across learning spheres in K-12, higher education, and community learning spaces to improve awareness of women’s health engineering. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.