Summer REU Program in the Dr.

Catherine Kuo Lab

Xavier Garcia-Collazo
1Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Email: xacgarcia@gmail.com Scholars Program: Global Public Health

Introduction Fieldwork/Setting
The REU Program:
• Dr. Kuo’s research integrates developmental biology with
• Weekly opportunities to socialize with fellow REU students who
materials science and engineering to inform tendon regenerative
came from different states across the US
medicine strategies with mechanisms of embryonic tendon
• Weekly seminars to learn different aspects on how to prepare for
development.
graduate school.
• Workshops to improve poster making, abstract writing and
• Within my project we studied craniofacial (CF) tendons because
organizational skills in general.
CF tendons are often involved in traumatic injuries and lack the
• The program tasked us with writing an abstract to submit to the
ability to regenerate.
Biomedical Engineering Society. (BMES)
• At the end of the 8-week program, we created a poster compiling
• We studied CF tendons that transmit forces from the musculus
all the research and data we carried out.
Adductor Mandibulae Externus(TmAME) and the musculus
Depressor Mandibulae (TmDM), to close and open the jaw,
The Kuo Lab:
respectively.
• I worked closely with my mentor Dr. Stefanie Korntner. She pushed
me beyond my limits in order to ensure I would succeed that
• This research allows for more progress and understanding
summer. She was very exceptional at teaching me concepts and
towards tendon healing often related to injuries such as ACL
techniques in order to ensure I understood what was going on
tears or birth defects.
within the lab.
• In order to be prepared for the public speaking that would take
Methods place in the poster session the lab gave me several opportunities
to practice presenting my poster.
Injections: Starting at embryonic day 15, embryos were injected
with two doses of drugs that induced:
• Rigid Paralysis
• Flaccid Paralysis
• Hypermotility Shown on the left is
• Saline Control the many graduate
Tissue Harvest, Processing, and Staining: and undergraduate
• Samples were harvested on day 17, processed, embedded in students in the Kuo
lab
paraffin and were sectioned
Cell Density Quantification: Shown on the right
is my mentor Dr.
• Stained sections were imaged at 20x magnification
Korntner
• Cell density was analyzed by counting cells / area (mm2) using
ImageJ software (NIH) Future Aspirations
I just recently switched into Bioengineering so I am excited to learn a
completely new field and immerse myself in what it means to be an
Figure 2: PB-treated engineer and its applications to biology.
TmAME shown in
ImageJ software
Past REU program I recently joined the Clyne Lab at UMD in order
utilizing the cell
counting and grid tool research Bioengineering regarding extracellular vesicles and its affect
Muscle to quantify tendon cell of health.
Tendon density.
In the future I hope to go to graduate school with the hope that I can
Results make my own mark on the world and the scientific community with my
own research and discoveries.
• DMB-treated TmAME shows increased cell density, possibly indicating
abnormal tendon development.

• Overall, cell density was lower in the TmAME compared to the TmDM.

Figure 3: Hematoxylin & Eosin

(H&E) staining of TmAME and
TmDM treated with DMB (rigid
paralysis), PB (flaccid
paralysis), 4-AP (hypermotility),
and vehicle control (Saline).
References
1) Pan et al. 2018, Philos.
Trans. R. Soc. B, 373
(1759); 2) Marturano et al.
2013, PNAS, 110(16), 6370–
6375.
Acknowledgements
I would like to give a big thanks to Dr. Kuo and Dr.
Korntner for their guidance throughout my REU
program and pushing me above and beyond.
I would also like to thank Dr. Stroka for leading the
REU program.