BioE Seminar Series Presents: Rebecca Heise

Rebecca Heise, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA

“Breaking Barriers: Evaluating the Alveolar-Capilary Barrier in Lung Injury and Repair”

Wednesday, October 27th, 2021

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EST

Behrakis 010

ABSTRACT:

Lung injuries such as acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute lung injury, or ventilator-associated lung injury cause disruption in the alveolar-capillary barrier leading to edema and lack of gas exchange. The mechanical environment in the lung plays an important role in maintaining this barrier. The constantly moving lung subjects cells to mechanical strain and shear stress during normal breathing. Lung injury, aging extracellular matrix, and obstructive pulmonary diseases alter this mechanical environment, changing the strain, shear stress, and stiffness of the pulmonary extracellular matrix. The present talk will discuss how these mechanical changes alter cellular signaling and function focusing on aging alveolar epithelial cells and macrophages in murine ventilator-induced lung injury and the role of extracellular matrix in alveolar epithelial barrier formation.

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Heise is an Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Director of Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She holds an affiliate appointment in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at VCU and is a member of the Massey Cancer Center and the Johnson Center for Critical Care and Pulmonary Research. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering with an additional major in Biomedical and Health Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2003. She then earned her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008. She then did her Postdoctoral work in the Laboratory of Respiratory Biology at the NIEHS in Research Triangle Park, NC. She joined the faculty of Biomedical Engineering at VCU in 2010.

Dr. Heise’s research focuses on pulmonary mechanobiology and regenerative medicine. She seeks to understand how the mechanical environment in the lung influences cellular behavior in health and disease with in vitro and in vivo models. Dr. Heise also researches the use of naturally-derived extracellular matrix as a biomaterial for cell and drug delivery to the lung. She has been awarded an R01 from the National Institute of Aging to study the effects of ventilator induced lung injury on inflammatory cell signaling, and she has earned a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation to study cell-ECM interactions in pulmonary fibrosis. She has over 30 peer-reviewed publications, 3 book chapters, and over 50 abstracts. Dr. Heise is the PI for an NSF REU Site: Mechanoboilogy at VCU.  She is actively teaching on all levels in the biomedical engineering department.