Systems
Bioengineering
Laboratory
Azeloglu Lab
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
The human body is a machine; an electromechanical system that breaks down easily and often. Despite our millennia-long attempt at fixing the human body, our understanding of complex biological systems is rudimentary at best. Systems Bioengineering Lab uses multidisciplinary approaches to understand how the human body operates and malfunctions, and aims to utilize engineering approaches for design of new therapeutic strategies against complex diseases such as diabetic nephropathy and heart failure. Our holistic methods comprise stem cell-based tissue engineering and machine learning-driven computational modeling that aims to develop next-generation research tools while minimizing our reliance on animal models.
PROJECTS
Systems Biomechanics
How the interaction of physical forces and biochemical processes affects basic cell biology still eludes most scientists. We study systems-level regulation of cell and tissue biomechanics to understand its role in progression of complex diseases, and to discover new drug targets and to design novel therapeutic strategies based on mechanobiological principles.
Kidney Tissue Engineering
We combine nanotechnology, functional tissue engineering, and multiple-omics methodologies to study fundamental biological processes and disease mechanisms.
Cytoskeletal Mechanobiology
Kidney podocytes comprise a specialized actin cytoskeleton with complex dynamic behavior that is key for its physiological function. We seek to understand the mechanisms through which the podocyte actin cytoskeleton affects glomerular function.
Signatures of Drug Toxicity
We are interested in identification and mitigation of adverse effects of targetted cancer therapeutics. As part of the Systems Biomedicine Institute at Mount Sinai, we investigate the mechanisms of cardiotoxity associated with targeted cancer therapeutics. For more details on our NIH Common Fund supported project, visit Mount Sinai LINCS website: DToxS.org. We are also looking at the renal effects of tyrosine kinase inhiibitors, in particular the altered mechanobiological landscape that may adversely effect glomerular function.
Smiti defended her thesis
Congratulations Dr. Bhattacharya!
Smiti Featured for Kidney TREKS
Smiti’s success has been featured at Columbia Mechanical Engineering website
SB3C Best Student Award
Tess won the Undergraduate Paper Competition at the 2022 Summer Bioengineering Meeting
Manuscript Out On Science Advances
Our KPMP kidney atlas paper is finally out!
FuzeHub Grant awarded!
SBL has received funding to manufacture a next-generation vascular access device!