Seminar Series
“Engineering the Tendon Microenvironment: ECM–Extracellular Vesicle Communication in Healing and Disorders”
Brittany Taylor, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
University of Florida
Abstract: Tendon disorders, including acute injury and chronic tendinopathy, impair function due to the tissue’s limited regenerative capacity and propensity for fibrotic repair. Although the mechanisms governing tendon healing remains incompletely understood, repair involves extrinsic and intrinsic cell populations that deposit mechanically inferior extracellular matrix (ECM). Our lab develops biophysical models of tendon health and dysfunction to study how cell-cell and cell-matrix Interactions regulate fibrotic healing, neuroimmune mechanisms of pain, and tissue biomechanics.A central goal is to bridge biomaterials-based in vitro systems with preclinical and human tissue models to study and validate biological processes across scales.
This talk will focus on how the dynamic structural remodeling of the ECM influences extracellular vesicle (EV)-mediated cellular communication during tendon healing and disease progression. Our findings suggest that microenvironmental cues, including matrix stiffness and alignment, strongly regulate EV phenotype and downstream pathways critical to tendon repair and fibrosis. Elucidating these EV-mediated ECM interactions provide fundamental insight into mechanisms of tendon repair and disorders and may enable the development of EV-based diagnostic or therapeutic strategies.
Bio: Dr. Brittany Taylor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at the University of Florida (UF) and Principal Investigator (PI) of the Taylor Lab. The Taylor Lab investigates the multi-scale reparative processes of musculoskeletal tissues, primarily tendon and the associated interfaces, to inform the development of tailored engineering approaches that restore tissue structure and function. Her group is particularly interested in studying mechanisms underlying fibrotic tendon healing, neuroimmune drivers of tendon pain, and pathological dysfunction, by bridging nanomaterial-based in vitro systems with preclinical and human tissue models to study biological processes across scales. As the recipient of the University of Pennsylvania Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowship, her postdoctoral research work centered on drug delivery for rotator cuff repair and on defining the role of collagen type V in tendon inflammation and remodeling. Dr. Taylor received a Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Dr. Taylor’s work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and the Alliance for Regenerative Rehabilitation Research and Training (AR3T). She is currently and NIH CTSA K12 scholar, pursuing research at the intersection of tendon pathology and pain. Dr. Taylor has published more than 35 peer-reviewed papers, holds two patents, and has authored five book chapters. Additionally, she has received numerous recognitions, including The Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Oregan and The Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact Award, 2025 UF BME Faculty Teaching Excellence, Rising Star on the CellPress list of Top 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America and MIT Rising Star in Biomedical Science. Dr. Taylor is also an active member of the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), Biomedical Engineering Society, Society of Biomaterials, and Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society.
For a zoom link please contact Kate Harrison at kharrison@wpi.edu