Although the prevalence of autoimmune diseases continues to grow, monitoring these conditions remains a challenge resulting in delayed diagnosis, ineffective treatment, and ultimately increased patient morbidity. The PRecision Immune MicroEnvironments (PRIME) Lab, seeks to address this challenge by combining biomaterials and synthetic biology to create a minimally invasive toolset for monitoring immune responses within tissues. Our work on biomaterial-based immunological niches demonstrates that implantable materials enable the formation of an engineered tissue that can be biopsied to monitor multiple sclerosis (MS). These niches provide insights into the phenotype of immune cells that control disease activity, and can be used to monitor disease dynamics or to gauge the effectiveness of treatment. This seminar will provide an overview of this system and share new results examining cellular composition and communication within these implants at the single cell level. These unique insights enabled development of new treatments that target dysregulated cell-cell communication in the mouse model of MS. We will conclude with a discussion of ongoing work that combines material design and drug delivery approaches to enrich specific populations of pathogenic immune cells.
Dr. Aaron Morris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, and runs the PRecision Immune MicroEnvironments Laboratory (PRIME Lab). The lab is broadly interested in immune dysfunction and uses a combination of synthetic biology and biomaterials to make new diagnostic systems and novel treatments. Dr. Morris completed a B.S. in BME at Georgia Tech, followed by a Ph.D. in BME from Yale University. As a postdoc, Dr. Morris worked with Dr. Lonnie Shea at the University of Michigan to use biomaterials to interrogate the immune system during autoimmunity and with Dr. Joshua Leonard at Northwestern University to build synthetic, modular receptor systems for synthetic biology platforms. Dr. Morris’s work has been supported through a number of mechanisms including the DARPA Young Faculty Award, NIH K99/R00, NSF GRFP, and a TED Fellowship.