Engineering professor wins grant for embryonic research

Catherine Kuo, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering this semester received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to study how tendons form in the embryo.

The $400,000 award will fund her research, which began in February and will last for five years, according to Kuo. The study examines embryonic development and seeks to use stem cells to mimic how embryonic cells make tendons, she said.

“We think that the embryonic cells sense different types of mechanical forces. One thing we want to understand during development in the embryo is how do they sense different types of mechanical forces,” Kuo said.

Upon sensing mechanical forces, embryonic cells turn those signals into information that tells the embryos how to build tendons, she explained.

“What we care about is how these cells are sensing different forces [that] tell the cells what to do and what to become,” Kuo said.

Kuo hopes that by understanding and mimicking these mechanisms of embryonic cells, scientists will one day be able to use stem cells to regenerate new tendons and build new body parts to replace injured or diseased tendons in the limbs.

“We might be able to use the same mechanical forces with stem cells to direct them to be whatever tissues we want,” she said.

Dean of the School of Engineering Linda Abriola emphasized the significance of Kuo’s work to the field of medicine.

“Understanding how the body builds tendons could lead to improved medical interventions for orthopedic disorders. More broadly, her work could have a transformative impact on how we understand tissue maintenance, aging and disease,” she told the Daily in an email.

The CAREER awards are granted to young, untenured professors in an effort to promote their research and teaching careers, according to Dennis Carter, program director of biomechanics and mechanobiology at the NSF.

“[It’s a] very prestigious award ... given to a young faculty member who we identify as being future stars of the field?and it promotes them in their career development,” he said.

The NSF Biomechanics and Mechanobiology Program generally gives out three or four CAREER awards annually, Carter said. An anonymous panel of experts from outside the NSF selects the winners, he added.

This year, a panel of 11 professors reviewed proposals from the biomechanics and mechanobiology field and recommended their top choices to Carter, he explained. Carter then evaluated the panel’s suggestions and made the final decision in conjunction with the NSF.

The NSF selects winners based on three main criteria: intellectual merit, how the work will impact society and the greater scientific community and the research’s potential to be incorporated in the applicant’s teaching, he said.

“It’s really [about] the integration of teaching and research and how it will make them a better teacher,” Carter said.

Nathan Schiele, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Biomedical Engineering who will be working with Kuo on the research, said that community outreach is also a factor in the award.

“[The CAREER Award] encourages outreach ... beyond the Tufts community and rewards ... drive and incentive to spread science outside the lab,” he said.

Kuo’s proposal was one of the most impressive among the candidates, Carter said.

“It was rated as one of the very best ones. It’s a new area of science that emphasizes our current understanding of how mechanical forces play a role very early on,” he said.

Carter underlined the prestigious nature of the NSF CAREER Award.

“A lot of people in the country?review this as a very high recommendation. Universities like it when their young faculty members [receive the CAREER Award] because it’s an outside evaluation of their faculty,” he said.

“[The] School of Engineering is proud of Dr. Kuo. This is a highly competitive program, and every CAREER Award winner adds to the national visibility and impact of our school,” Abriola added.