Thomas C. Skalak
- Email: tcs4z@virginia.edu
- Phone: 434-924-0270
- Website: http://bme.virginia.edu/people/faculty/skalak/
Primary Appointment
Professor and Chair, Unaffiliated
Research Interests
Vascular and Molecular Engineering
Research Description
A central research thrust is to understand vascular adaptation to environmental conditions and in vascular diseases, aiming at development of new preventative technologies. Research is focused on arteriolar network remodeling as a function of mechanical stresses, vascular pattern formation, and engineering of wound prevention and repair. Techniques to carry out this work include immunofluorescence visualization of arteriolar remodeling and contractile cell lineage, three-dimensional reconstruction of vascular networks, intravital microscopy measurements of blood flow and pressure, vessel dimensions, and vascular reactivity, gene expression profiling, integrated device design and prototyping for fluid transport in skin flaps and skin ulcer studies, continuum mechanical study of network hemodynamics, and discrete cell-based computer simulation of vascular adaptation. The computational systems biology or "digital biology" modeling is one of the only multicellular systems approaches to this type of tissue assembly problem.
Personal Statement
A central research thrust is to understand vascular adaptation to environmental conditions and in vascular diseases, aiming at development of new preventative technologies. Research is focused on arteriolar network remodeling as a function of mechanical stresses, vascular pattern formation, and engineering of wound prevention and repair. Techniques to carry out this work include immunofluorescence visualization of arteriolar remodeling and contractile cell lineage, three-dimensional reconstruction of vascular networks, intravital microscopy measurements of blood flow and pressure, vessel dimensions, and vascular reactivity, gene expression profiling, integrated device design and prototyping for fluid transport in skin flaps and skin ulcer studies, continuum mechanical study of network hemodynamics, and discrete cell-based computer simulation of vascular adaptation.
Selected Publications
Doyle ME, Perley JP, Skalak TC, Bone marrow-derived progenitor cells augment venous remodeling in a mouse dorsal skinfold chamber model., 2012; PloS one. 7(2) e32815. PMID: 22389724 | PMCID: PMC3289672
Benedict KF, Mac Gabhann F, Amanfu RK, Chavali AK, Gianchandani EP, Glaw LS, Oberhardt MA, Thorne BC, Yang JH, Papin JA, Peirce SM, Saucerman JJ, Skalak TC, Systems analysis of small signaling modules relevant to eight human diseases., 2010; Annals of biomedical engineering. 39(2) 621-35. PMID: 21132372 | PMCID: PMC3033523
Benedict KF, Coffin GS, Barrett EJ, Skalak TC, Hemodynamic systems analysis of capillary network remodeling during the progression of type 2 diabetes., 2010; Microcirculation (New York, N.Y. : 1994). 18(1) 63-73. PMID: 21166927 | PMCID: NIHMS267683
Glaw JT, Skalak TC, Peirce SM, Inhibition of canonical Wnt signaling increases microvascular hemorrhaging and venular remodeling in adult rats., 2010; Microcirculation (New York, N.Y. : 1994). 17(5) 348-57. PMID: 20618692 | PMCID: PMC2904644
Nickerson MM, Song J, Meisner JK, Bajikar S, Burke CW, Shuptrine CW, Owens GK, Skalak TC, Price RJ, Bone marrow-derived cell-specific chemokine (C-C motif) receptor-2 expression is required for arteriolar remodeling., 2009; Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology. 29(11) 1794-801. PMID: 19734197 | PMCID: PMC2766019