Tissue Engineering
ENGINEERING VOCAL FOLD TISSUES
Dr. Titze is joined by a team of research scientist and students at
the University of Iowa (Juanita Limas, Brian Berger, Sarah Klemuk, Sanyukta
Jaiswal, Priyanka Roy Chowdhury) and by collaborators at the University
of Wisconsin (Dr. Susan Thibeault) to study the effects of vibration on vocal
fold tissues. Much of the work will soon also be conducted in the
new Tramway facility in Denver. Synthetic materials (like sponges
and foams) are used to begin the engineering process. These materials,
which are porous, are seeded with cells that produce their own products
(various protein fibers and fluid-like protein substances) to fill
the spaces in the sponges or foam. All of this is happening in a
so-called bioreactor, which is a device that allows cells to react
to imposed environmental forces (Figure 1). In this case, the forces
are vibrational forces. The tissue is cultured between two plates
(see Figure 2), like a hamburger patty between two buns. One of
the plates rotates back and forth at frequency’s up to 100
Hz. In this way, the cells and their protein products are exposed
to rather violent vibratory forces, not unlike those experienced
in the human vocal cords during loud voice production. The objective
of the research is to determine the underlying molecular causes
for voice disorders related to excessive use of the voice.
 |
 |
|
~ National Center for Voice and Speech, www.ncvs.org
