Home >> Research Overview >> Research by Faculty Member
Stephanie J. Bryant

Assistant Professor

ECCH 118

(303) 735-6714

stephanie.bryant@colorado.edu

Education:

B.S., University of Texas, at Austin, (1995)
Ph.D., University of Colorado, at Boulder, (2002)
Post-doctoral Research Position, University of Washington, (2003-2005)

Awards:

• 2007 New Inventor of the Year, CU-Boulder

• 2007 Dean’s Award for Professional Progress, College of Engineering and Applied Science, CU

• University of Colorado, Junior Faculty Development Award, 2006-2007

• National Institutes of Health Individual Postdoctoral Fellow, Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA, 2003-2005.

• NIH Individual NRSA Fellow, University of Washington, 2003

• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow, 1999-2002.

• NSF Graduate Fellow, University of Colorado, (1999)
• DoEd’s Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need Fellow, University of Colorado, (1998)

Selected Publications:

G.D. Nicodemus, S.J. Bryant, The role of hydrogel structure and dynamic loading on chondrocyte gene expression and matrix formation. Journal of Biomechanics, 41(7): 1528-1536 (2008).

I.Villanueva, D.S. Hauschulz, D. Mejic and S.J. Bryant, "Static and dynamic compressive strains influence nitric oxide production and chondrocyte bioactivity when encapsulated in PEG hydrogels of different crosslinking densities." Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (2008), doi:10.1016/j.joca.2007.12.003.

S.J. Bryant, J.L. Cuy, K.D. Hauch and B.D. Ratner, "Photo-patterning of porous hydrogels for tissue engineering." Biomaterials, 28: 2978-2986 (2007).

G.N. Nicodemus, I. Villanueva and S.J. Bryant, "Mechanical Stimulation of TMJ Condylar Chondrocytes encapsulated in PEG Hydrogels.” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, (Published online 16 April 2007, DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.31251).

Research Interests:

Functional Tissue Engineering, Photopolymerization, Biomaterials

The overall research objective of my group is to combine novel cell scaffold development with mechanical cues to direct and guide tissue growth in the appropriate composition to yield a functional and integrated tissue. Tissues in the body are continually subjected to mechanical stresses. It is well known that cells detect and respond to mechanical stresses by metabolic alterations that are mediated through specific mechanotransduction pathways. Photopolymerized hydrogels offer a unique medium with which to design a wide array of scaffolds from different chemistries that exhibit a range of macroscopic properties and degradation profiles. We are interested in exploiting the hydrogel environment to study mechanotransduction pathways as well as developing novel scaffolds combined with mechanical conditioning for tissue engineering. In particular, our group is focused primarily on cartilage tissue engineering, but will soon be expanding into cardiac muscle tissue engineering.