The ocular surface is vulnerable to myriad insults including mechanical, chemical and thermal injuries. The resulting trauma may render the naturally occurring regenerative properties of the cornea incapable of restoring a healthy epithelial surface with a resultant loss of corneal transparency and vision. Bioengineered scaffolds derived from silk have been used to restore function to damaged tissues in number of organ systems. Although some progress has been made in ocular surface reconstruction, the emphasis has been on mechanisms to cultivate cells, while less focus has been placed on identifying means to alter the substrate on which the ocular surface epithelium is destined to grow. The proposal has 2 aims: 1) To determine the optimal nanoscale surface features promoting corneal epithelial cell adhesion and migration, and 2) To optimize cell adhesion and migration on silk films using peptide surface modifications. The above exploratory Aims will examine our hypothesis that nanoscale features and surface modifications are critical for the adhesion, proliferation and migration of corneal epithelial cells vivo.
The Aims will lay the groundwork for future experiments combining modifications of ocular surface epithelial cell substrates using thin silk films as conduits for potential bioengineered ocular surface reconstruction.

Public Health Relevance

The ocular surface is vulnerable to myriad insults including mechanical, chemical and thermal injuries. The resulting trauma may render the naturally occurring regenerative properties of the cornea incapable of restoring a healthy epithelial surface with a resultant loss of corneal transparency and vision. We propose to design bioengineered tissues composed of with surface properties that will facilitate repair of the eye.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
1R21EY019561-01
Application #
7641481
Study Section
Anterior Eye Disease Study Section (AED)
Program Officer
Shen, Grace L
Project Start
2009-07-01
Project End
2011-05-31
Budget Start
2009-07-01
Budget End
2010-05-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$253,500
Indirect Cost
Name
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Department
Ophthalmology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
060217502
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10065
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Lawrence, Brian D; Pan, Zhi; Rosenblatt, Mark I (2012) Silk film topography directs collective epithelial cell migration. PLoS One 7:e50190
Lawrence, Brian D; Pan, Zhi; Liu, Aihong et al. (2012) Human corneal limbal epithelial cell response to varying silk film geometric topography in vitro. Acta Biomater 8:3732-43
Lawrence, Brian D; Pan, Zhi; Weber, Michael D et al. (2012) Silk film culture system for in vitro analysis and biomaterial design. J Vis Exp :
Liu, Jingbo; Lawrence, Brian D; Liu, Aihong et al. (2012) Silk fibroin as a biomaterial substrate for corneal epithelial cell sheet generation. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 53:4130-8
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