{"id":8244,"date":"2025-09-18T11:28:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/?p=8244"},"modified":"2026-10-13T10:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T14:41:17","slug":"grinstaff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/2025\/09\/18\/grinstaff\/","title":{"rendered":"Characterizing Relaxin-2 as a Therapeutic Candidate for Fibrosis"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Mentors<\/h3>\n\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-5887 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-bme departments-chem departments-mse-dept departments-med affiliation-faculty program-year-yr-2023 program-year-186 profile-field-reu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/mark-grinstaff\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/09\/GRINSTAFF_HS-008-1200x1200-1-e1763996613675-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Mark Grinstaff<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor (BME, Chemistry, MSE, MED)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-advanced has-title post-8251 profile type-profile status-publish hentry departments-bme affiliation-graduate-student program-year-186 profile-field-mentor\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/profile\/heather-murray\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-advanced\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/09\/Murray_Heather-300x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-advanced\">Heather Murray<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-advanced\">PhD Candidate<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\n<h3 style=\"margin-top: 0;\">Project Description<\/h3>\n<p>Biomaterials are essential tools in biomedical research, providing physiologically relevant environments that support the study of disease mechanisms and the evaluation of therapeutic candidates including relaxin-2 in fibrotic conditions. Using the endogenous hormone relaxin-2, this project will evaluate its therapeutic potential for reducing fibrotic tissue within a uterus-mimicking environment. Throughout this project, the student will culture relevant cell types, fabricate cell embedded 3D collagen hydrogels, and treat them with relaxin-2 to study fibrotic environments. Analytical techniques, including western blotting and qPCR, will be used to assess fibrotic marker expression and treatment response. The goal is to characterize how relaxin-2 modulates fibrosis and evaluate its viability as a targeted treatment strategy while developing essential skills for biomaterial engineering.<\/p>\n<div class=\" bu-callout alignright\"><\/p>\n<h3>Research Participant<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>Program: MSE REU<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/09\/20250728_Ayomide-Labshoot-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"424\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-5958 alignnone\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-sheets-root=\"1\"><b>Ayomide Olagundoye<\/b><\/span>, Research Experiences for Undergraduates.<br \/>\n<a href='https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/2025\/08\/10\/ayomide-olagundoye\/' class='button button'>Learn More<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Research Goals<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<li>Characterize the anti-fibrotic effects of relaxin-2 in a 3D hydrogel model<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate changes in fibrotic marker expression via qPCR and western blot<\/li>\n<li>Determine effective relaxin-2 dosing and treatment duration<\/li>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<br \/>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h3 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Learning Goals<\/h3><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<li>Learn how to culture and maintain mammalian cells- Perform and optimize 3D collagen hydrogel systems<\/li>\n<li>Gain experience performing and interpreting western blot, qPCR assays, flow cytometry, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Develop skills in experimental design and protocol development<\/li>\n<li>Strengthen scientific communication through presentations, reports, and discussions<\/li>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<h3>Timeline<\/h3>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #003366;\">Week 1:<\/span><\/strong> Literature review, lab safety, orientation to the lab<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 2:<\/strong><\/span> Learn cell culture basics<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 3:<\/strong><\/span> Gel fabrication, cell embedding, start first treatments<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 4-8:<\/strong><\/span> Monitor relaxin-2 treatments, run western blots, qPCR, and optimize treatment conditions<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 9:<\/strong><\/span> Analyze data, create figures<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>Week 10:<\/strong><\/span> Poster presentation, lab wrap-up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mentors Project Description Biomaterials are essential tools in biomedical research, providing physiologically relevant environments that support the study of disease mechanisms and the evaluation of therapeutic candidates including relaxin-2 in fibrotic conditions. Using the endogenous hormone relaxin-2, this project will evaluate its therapeutic potential for reducing fibrotic tissue within a uterus-mimicking environment. Throughout this project, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8244"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11368,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8244\/revisions\/11368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}