Kelli Church - Masters Candidate
Kelli is completing her thesis work on the effects of load-controlled enzymatic cleavage of collagen in loaded corneal strips.
The hypothesis is that tensile strain directly modulates the susceptibility of collagen molecules to enzymatic degradation. Kelli has developed a miniature collagen bioreactor capable of applying a tensile load to a corneal strips with self sustaining incubation.
The bioreactor was originally built by Kelli during her final year as an undergraduate as her capstone project, with fellow group members Ryan Cahill and Brad Jaworski . She has designed and built the bioreactor from scratch: her thesis will report these processes, as well as the data analysis
The main focus of her research is to analyze the mechanics of tissue specimens when a tensile stress is applied. A tissue specimen will be placed in an environmental chamber capable of applying a tensile load (Collagen Bioreactor) to study the mechanical properties of type I collagen. The tissue is theorized to reorganize under tensile load in order to compensate for the force applied to it. The system will be used for both degradation and growth of collagen type 1 tissue specimens.
Undergraduate Education
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Northeastern University 2005
Work Experience
- Boston Scientific Corp., Natick - Winter 2002 and Spring 2003
- Axya Medical Company, Beverly - Fall 2003
- NMT Medical Corp., South Boston - Fall 2004
Poster Presentation
- BMES Poster Session 1073 Miniature Load and Strain-Controlling Bioreactor For Direct Observation of Tissue Remodelling K.P. Church, R.Cahill, B.Jaworski and J. Ruberti Northeastern University, Boston, MA. October 12, 2007