Home Department: undeclared
Mentor: Joseph Woo (Cardiothoracic Surgery)

“Monomeric SDF-1a Analog: Protein Engineering to Promote Angiogenesis Following Ischemic Injury”

Gabrielle’s project aims to engineer and assess a monomeric SDF-1a analog (MSA), a protein designed to promote angiogenesis for myocardial ischemia. By determining a design that does not experience degradation from enzymatic activity, the MSA is intended to stimulate regeneration of blood vessels following ischemic injury. Gabrielle’s project will examine the structure of the MSA through size exclusion chromatography at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and then conduct a Boyden chamber assay to analyze in vitro chemotaxis with human endothelial cells. Eventually, the MSA will be injected into the myocardium of adult mice after a myocardial infarction to determine its angiogenic capabilities.