Photo of Stanford student and Stanford Bio-X Undergraduate Summer Research Program Participant Peyton Freeman.
2020 Undergraduate Summer Research Program Participant and 2021 Cohort Lead

Home Department: Bioengineering
Mentor: Fan Yang (Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering)

2020 Research Project: “Enhancing Bone Regeneration Through Immunomodulation Using Microribbon Scaffolds”

Cell membrane coating technology is a promising bio-mimicking material with versatile applications from removal of SARS Covid to target delivery and cancer immunotherapy. Peyton will be conducting a literature review in this field, and further exploring cell membrane application in immunomodulation for bone regeneration through immunostaining data analysis. Peyton’s Stanford Bio-X research takes place at the interface of biomaterials, immunology, and tissue engineering, and will have broad impacts on designing cell membrane coated scaffolds with immunomodulatory functions to enhance bone regeneration.
 

2021 Research Project: “Engineering Dual Functional Scaffolds to Enhance Bone Formation via Immunomodulation and Drug Delivery”

This project aims to validate a new therapy for regenerating cranial bone through co-delivery of growth factor and cell-membrane coated hydrogels. Using a mouse model, Yang’s lab has shown BMP2 and MSC cell membrane coated microribbon hydrogels synergize to enhance bone formation. Peyton is performing further in vitro assays to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, and learn various softwares (ImageJ, GraphPad, and Microview) to analyze histology and microCT imaging results from mouse models. She will also participate in weekly lab meetings, subgroup meetings and journal clubs to learn experimental design and research methods in general.