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Anseth lab: Concentration and distribution of the extracellular matrix component chondroitin sulfate (red) impart desirable mechanical properties to body tissues, such as the pig aortic valve leaflet shown here—just one of many considerations that play into the bioengineered tissues that the lab develops.
Anseth says, however, that the biomaterials were merely “the first phase” needed for her lab to tackle specific medical problems. Nevertheless, it was a major leap forward for the tissue-engineering world—and the basis for her winning the Waterman award in 2004.
“She was one of the first to apply a combination of molecular and cell engineering to truly innovative problems of tissue engineering,” says Nicholas A. Peppas, now a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, who mentored Anseth when she was an undergraduate and a postdoctoral fellow at Purdue University. “What she has done is really phenomenal and seminal: to create new tissues in relatively simple biocompatible ways that can be optimized.”
With new materials in hand, Anseth’s team has turned to the human knee, which sits in a cushion of cartilage that can be injured or wear out. “Bone heals itself, but cartilage doesn’t,” notes Anseth. With an injectable scaffold—a minimally invasive procedure—the idea is to coax cartilage-producing cells, also injected, to repair damage naturally. “We’re trying to get the body to heal itself when something goes awry.” Not an easy task, even with the advanced technology. Engineered cartilage grown in a lab dish has stumped the group because it lacks the mechanical properties of real cartilage. Engineered cartilage grown in an animal, however, mysteriously gains the correct squishiness.
Anseth’s lab has created a hydrogel scaffold now being tested in goat knees. Why goats? “Because they are very active, roaming around all day,” says Anseth. The lab is also tackling problems in Parkinson’s disease and heart-valve defects, which are characterized by much more complicated cellular interactions.
“Can we put in the critical components of the fetal cells’ environment?” Anseth asks. For heart-valve defects, a scaffold should mimic normal heart-valve development. “Can we grow it in a pulsatile bioreactor like a beating heart?” she wonders. And although she often gets grant reviews back with comments like, “This will never work,” or, “Crazy idea,” Anseth clearly believes that the answer to these “Can we?” questions is, “Yes.”
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THE WATERMAN AWARD
Congress established the Alan T. Waterman Award in 1975 to celebrate the National Science Foundation's (NSF) 25th anniversary and to commemorate its first director, who served from 1951 to 1963 under Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. Awardees receive a medal and a grant of $500,000 over 3 years for scientific research or advanced study.
Candidates for the award must be 35 or under (or not more than 7 years beyond receipt of their Ph.D.). Selection is based on exceptional individual research in the mathematical, physical, medical, biological, engineering, social, or other sciences. Criteria include originality, innovation, and impact of the work.
"The Waterman first recognizes excellent scientists," says Rita Colwell, the former NSF director who presented the award to both Doudna and Amon. "But it also reaffirms the career trajectory and provides the confidence that every young scientist, male or female, will need."
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