A growing body of literature suggests that human adiposederived stromal cells (hASCs) possess developmental plasticity both in vitro and in vivo, and might represent a viable cell source for therapeutic angiogenesis and tissue engineering. We investigate their phenotypic similarity to perivascular cell types, ability to contribute to in vivo microvascular remodeling, and ability to modulate vascular stability. We evaluated hASC surface expression of vascular and stem/ progenitor cell markers in vitro, as well as any effects of platelet-derived growth factor B chain (PDGF-BB) and vascular endothelial growth factor 165 on in vitro hASC migration. To ascertain in vivo behavior of hASCs in an angiogenic environment, hASCs were isolated, expanded in culture, labeled with a fluorescent marker, and injected into adult nude rat mesenteries that were stimulated to undergo microvascular remodeling. Ten, 30, and 60 days after injection, tissues from anesthetized animals were harvested and processed with immunohistochemical techniques to determine hASC quantity, positional fate in relation to microvessels, and expression of endothelial and perivascular cell markers. After 60 days, 29% of hASCs exhibited perivascular morphologies compared with 11% of injected human lung fibroblasts. hASCs exhibiting perivascular morphologies also expressed markers characteristic of vascular pericytes: smooth muscle ␣-actin (10%) and neuron-glia antigen 2 (8%). In tissues treated with hASCs, vascular density was significantly increased over age-matched controls lacking hASCs. This study demonstrates that hASCs express pericyte lineage markers in vivo and in vitro, exhibit increased migration in response to PDGF-BB in vitro, exhibit perivascular morphology when injected in vivo, and contribute to increases in microvascular density during angiogenesis by migrating toward vessels. STEM CELLS

Currently, little is known about the response of the adult retinal microvasculature to hypoxia. To test the hypothesis that chronic systemic hypoxia induces angiogenesis and microvascular remodeling in the adult mouse retina, adult 10-wk old female C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to 10% O 2 for 2 or 3 weeks. After hypoxia exposure, retinas were harvested, whole-mounted, and processed for immunohistochemistry. Retinas were stained with lectin, anti-smooth muscle α-actin antibody, and anti-NG2 antibody to visualize microvascular networks and their cellular components. Confocal microscopy was used to obtain images of superficial retinal networks. Images were analyzed to assess vessel diameter, vascular length density, branch point density, and the presence of vascular loops, a hallmark of intussusceptive angiogenesis. Both 2 and 3 weeks of hypoxia exposure resulted in a significant increase in the diameters of arterioles and post-arteriole capillaries (p < 0.003). After 3 weeks of hypoxia, vascular length density and branch point density were significantly increased in retinas exposed to hypoxia as compared to normoxic controls (p < 0.001). The number of vascular loops in the superficial retinal networks was significantly greater in hypoxia-exposed retinas (p ≤ 0.001). Our results demonstrate, for the first time, intussusceptive angiogenesis as a tissue-level mechanism of vascular adaptation to chronic systemic hypoxia in the adult mouse retina and contribute to our understanding of hypoxia-induced angiogenesis and microvascular remodeling in the adult animal.

The results suggest that EphB4 is not an arterial/venous-specific marker in adult rat microvascular networks, and provide new data suggesting that its elevated expression in capillaries is indicative of capillary sprouting.

EphrinB2 reverse signaling is a regulator of key processes during retinal vascularization and controls pathologic retinal angiogenesis through direct effects on capillary sprouting and endothelial filopodia formation.

University of Washington include introductory and honors courses in bioengineering, tissue and protein engineering lab courses, bioengineering ethics, leadership, and bioengineering capstone writing and research/design courses. She is committed to enhancing diversity and inclusivity in engineering, and creating opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in K-12 educational outreach. Dr. Hendricks has over a decade of experience leading educational outreach and summer camp programs at both Duke University and the University of Washington. Dr. Alyssa Catherine Taylor, University of WashingtonAlyssa C. Taylor is a lecturer in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington. She received a B.S. in biological systems engineering at the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia. Taylor's teaching activities are focused on developing and teaching core introductory courses and technical labs for bioengineering undergraduates, as well as coordinating the capstone design sequence for the BIOE Department at the University of Washington. Taylor currently pursues educational research and continuous improvement activities, with the ultimate goal of optimizing bioengineering curriculum design and student learning outcomes. Implementation of Peer Review to Enhance Written and Visual Communication Learning in Bioengineering Capstone ReportsIn addition to technical skill development, engineering undergraduate curricula must also foster development of effective communication skills. The capstone report often plays an instrumental role in this development, as it comprises both the final assessment of student communication performance and it is the most significant opportunity for active learning of in-discipline communication skills. Peer review has been proposed as an ideal means to provide students with much-needed formative feedback. [1][2][3] In addition, peer review has the potential to increase student interpersonal communication skills and metacognition, provided that the review activity is structured to encourage constructive contributions and reflection.In this paper, we build on our previous work-in-progress 4 describing the implementation of a peer review strategy integrated throughout the year-long capstone experience that allows students to obtain formative feedback and build transferable communication skills and insights. Students completed a workshop series of scaffolded communication critique, small-group formative peer review, and reflection. First, students were guided to collaborate as a class to generate rubric for sections of the capstone report, as well as guidelines for constructive and effective peer feedback. Next, students used these codes to provide feedback in small groups. When students submitted their revised draft, they included a cover letter describing their reflection on peer feedback and the changes they made due to peer review.The novelty of our specific approach to peer review lies in the combination of three qu...