College of Engineering Biomedical Engineering Program

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Fayekah Assanah, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Residence
Research Interests:
Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering, Hydrogels, Cellular response to mechanical forces, Cell interactions with material interfaces.
Address:
Engineering II Room 209
191 Auditorium Road
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-3247
Office Phone: TBD
Office Fax: TBD
Education:
B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Virginia
M.S. Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut
Research Summary:
My current research focuses on the synthesis of hydrogels to mimic the mechanical behavior of the brain matter and investigate cellular response to injury. My past research focused on biomaterials and tissue engineering with a particular emphasis in bone tissue regeneration. This involved combining hydrogel-based cell therapy and acoustic radiation forces via Low Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS), for healing large scale bone defects. Previous research also involved hydrogels as three-dimensional cultures to study the effects of mechanical forces on axons for repairing spinal cord injury.
Selected Publications:
  1. Cell responses to physical forces, and how they inform the design of tissue-engineered constructs for bone repair: a review (Assanah F, Khan Y) J. Mater. Sci. 53: 1-21 (2018).
  2. Mechanically Loading Cell/Hydrogel Constructs with Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound for Bone Repair, (Veronick J A, Assanah F, Piscopo N, Kutes Y, Vyas, V, Nair, L S, Huey BD, Khan Y.) Tissue Eng. Part A 00: 1-10 (2017).
  3. Enhancing the Functionality of Trabecular Allografts Through Polymeric Coating for Factor Loading (Assanah F, McDermott C , Malinowski S, Sharmin F, Kumbar S, Adams D J , Khan Y.) Regen. Eng. Translational Med. 3: 75-81(2017).
  4. The effect of acoustic radiation force on osteoblasts in cell/hydrogel constructs for bone repair. (Veronick JA, Assanah F, Nair LS, Vyas V, Huey B D, Khan Y) Exp. Biol. Med. 241: 1149–1156 (2016).
  5. Connective Tissue Growth Factor reporter mice label a subpopulation of mesenchymal progenitor cells that reside in the trabecular bone region (Wang W, Strecker S, Liu Y, Wang L, Assanah F, Smith S, Maye P) Bone 71:76-88 (2014).