Jeffrey Morgan
Associate Professor of Medical Science and Engineering CoDirector Center for Biomedical Engineering:
Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology & Biotechnology
Phone: +1 401 863 9879
Jeffrey_Morgan@Brown.EDU
Research in the lab is focused on understanding the molecular and cellular biology of the skin with an eye towards new therapeutic approaches to wound healing, the repair of the skin and the improvement in the performance of percutaneous medical devices. We are also working on novel devices containing living cells to profile gene expression, monitor the toxicity of nanomaterials, and to study the dynamics of the cell adhesion process.
Biography
B.S. Syracuse University
Ph.D. Harvard University
Post Doctoral Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
Interests
There are four interdisciplinary and collaborative projects in the lab.
- In collaboration with Dean Clyde Briant (Eng) and funded by the Veterans Adminstration, we are investigating ways to improve the performance of percutaneous medical devices that penetrate the skin. There are over a million percutaneous devices (indwelling catheters, dialysis ports, etc.) implanted each year, and the long-term use of these devices is severely limited due to problems of inflammation and infection because the skin does not form an adequate seal around the device. This is especially problematic for a new titanium osseo-integration device that is being tested for the repair of amputations. The device is anchored in the bone and extends out through the skin where a prosthetic limb is attached. To optimize the skin seal around this device, we are investigating the influence of surface chemistry, surface topography and alloy composition on the adhesion and proliferation of epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts. We are also investigating the mechanics of the skin/percutaneous device interface.
- In collaboration with Profs. Robert Hurt (Eng), Agnes Kane (Pathobiology), and Gregory Crawford (Eng) and funded by an NSF Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Research Team grant, we are developing a device to screen for potential toxic effects of nano-materials on target organs such as the lung and skin. Nanotechnology holds great promise for advancements in many fields including medicine, electronics and materials science. However, the health effects of these new materials is largely unknown, and humans may come into contact with nano-materials through deliberate or accidental inhalation or contact with the skin. To investigate potential toxic effects, we are developing a high throughput chip containing microarrays of nanomaterials (single wall/multiwall carbon nanotubes, nanohorns, gold nanoparticles and gold/titanium nanoparticles). The biochemical responses of skin cells and macrophages grown on these chips are being measured to determine the cellular responses to these new materials with the goal of determining those nanoscale features that lead to minimal toxicity and optimal biocompatibility.
- In collaboration with Drs. Martin Yarmush and Mehmet Toner (Harvard Medical School) and funded by an NIH Bioengineering Research Partnership grant, we are developing a living cell array containing genetically modified cells that have been engineered to induce the expression of green fluorescent protein in response to a large panel of well-known inflammatory mediators. Unlike the profiling of gene expression using conventional genomics tools that require the killing of cells and the extraction of RNA, the living cell array reports the kinetics and duration of gene expression in real-time by quantifying the fluorescence of living cells. This data has generated new insight into the signal transduction of inflammatory mediators. As the panel of reporter genes and reporter cell lines is expanded to develop a massively parallel high throughput system for the simultaneous monitoring of the expression of hundreds of genes, the device will generate new algorithms for understanding how a cell perceives and integrates the conflicting signals from a complex and sometimes pathological milieu.
- As part of Brown's NSF sponsored Materials Research Science and Engineering Center on Micro- and Nano-Mechanics of Materials, we are investigating the fundamental processes of cell to cell and cell to material adhesion. We have developed a novel and highly effective method to form aggregates of cells. A hydrogel such as agarose that is non-adhesive for cells is micro-molded to have small wells. A suspension of single cells is added and the cells settle into these wells and instead of binding to the surface of the hydrogel, the cells contact one another and form small tight aggregates of cells. This is almost the exact opposite of the conventional culture of cells on Petri dishes where the cells bind and spread on the plastic surface of the dish. Using this method we are examining the dynamics of cell to cell adhesion as well as the fundamental processes governing the self assembly of cells into functional micro-tissues.
Degrees
Ph.D. Harvard University, 1983
Awards
1977 Departmental Award for Outstanding Achievement in Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
1978 National Research Service Award in Viral Oncology
1983-1986 Damon Runyon Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellowship
1986-1988 Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship
1996 La Roche-Posay International Foundation Prize
1996 European Association of Plastic Surgeons Honorary Lecture
Affiliations
1983-1988 Post Doctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
1988-1991 Co-founder, Somatix Corporation, Cambridge, MA
1988-1990 Senior Scientist, Somatix Corporation, Cambridge, MA
1990-1991 Scientific Officer, Somatix Corporation, Cambridge, MA
1991-1994 Instructor in Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
1991-1996 Assistant Biologist, Dept. of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
1991-2002 Senior Research Scientist, Shriners Hospital for Children, Boston, MA
1997-2002 Associate Biologist, Dept. of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
1994-2000 Assistant Professor in Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2001-2002 Associate Professor in Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2002-2004 Associate of Professor of Medical Science, Brown University, Providence, RI
2005- Associate of Professor of Medical Science and Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI
Teaching
Course Director, Bio 213 Techniques in Molecular and Cellular Sciences, Brown University
Course Director, Bio 195/196 Independent Research, Brown University
Co-Director, Bio 223/224 Artificial Organs/Biomaterials/Tissue Engineering Seminar, Brown University
Lecturer, "Cell Adhesion" PH199/BI194 Biophysical Techniques, Brown University
Lecturer, "Drug Delivery in Dermatological Diseases" Bio 274 Organ System Pharmacology, Brown University Medical School
Lecturer, "Living Skin Equivalents" Bio 108 Organ Replacement, Brown University
Lecturer, "Cells and Cell Culture" Bio 114 Tissue Engineering, Brown University
Lecturer, "Viral-Mediated Gene Delivery" Bio 211 Drug and Gene Delivery, Brown University
Lecturer, "Introduction to Gene Therapy" Bio 17 Biotechnology in Medicine, Brown University
Lecturer, "Advances in Gene Therapy" Bio 217 Receptors, Channels and Signaling, Brown University
Course Director and Instructor, HST 505: Laboratory in Molecular and Cellular Sciences, Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science & Technology
Lecturer, "Burn Surgery and Tissue Engineering" HST 595, Tutorial in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lecturer, "Industrial Round Table" HST 596 Tutorial in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lecturer, "Improving Cultured Skin Performance by Stimulating the Innate Immune Response" Surgical Grand Rounds, Massachusetts General Hospital
Lecturer, "Composite Skin Experience" Surgical Grand Rounds, Massachusetts General Hospital
Lecturer, "Skin Biology and Engineering", Seminar Series in Biomedical Science and Engineering, Center for Engineering in Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Lecturer, "Gene Delivery to Keratinocytes" Genetics 208, Gene Therapy: Principles and Practice, Harvard Medical School
Lecturer, "Growth Factor Gene Therapy for Wound Healing of the Skin" Biomedical Colloquium Series, Graduate Programs in Biomedical Science, Bouve College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Northeastern University
Lecturer, "Genetic Control of Paracrine and Autocrine Controls of the Skin" Department of Pathology/Research North Seminar Series, Beth Israel Hospital
Lecturer, "Engineering Genetic Strategies For Tissue Repair" HST 590, Biomedical Engineering Seminars, Section on Molecular and Cellular Processes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Funded Research
Veterans Administration
"Optimizing the Soft Tissue Seal Around a Percutaneous Osseointegration Device"
National Institute of Health
Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP): "Inflammatory Signal Transduction in Living Cell Arrays"
National Science Foundation
Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT): "Micropatterned Nanotopography Chips for Probing the Cellular Basis of Biocompatibility and Toxicity"
National Science Foundation
Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: "Micro- and Nano- Mechanics of Materials: Micromechanics of Cell Adhesion"
