Mark Mondrinos

Our laboratory engineers biologically-inspired microphysiological systems and organoid-based models of human tissues and organs including the lungs, skeletal muscle and organ-specific interstitial tissues. We utilize confocal microscopy and rigorous biochemical analysis to study normal physiological functions and disease states in these models, with a strong emphasis on filling the translational gap to accelerate preclinical screening of novel therapeutic paradigms. Currently, we are working to build models of respiratory exposure injury (i.e. smoking, vaping, environmental exposures), inflammatory and fibrotic disorders of the interstitium in various organ contexts, and muscle tissue injury. An exciting area of focus is engineering multi-organ microfluidic models to study the systemic effects of malignancy (i.e. Cachexia) and screen palliative therapies that will improve quality of life in patients with incurable disease.