AAA 2012 Scientific Sessions

The aim of this session is to explore both how engineering can be used to study developmental biology and to ask how developmental biology can be used in engineering. Bioengineering research encompasses a variety of fields including biological flows, biological physics, tissue engineering and computation modeling.  This session encompasses subjects such as mechanical aspects of development and computational modeling of development, but also extends to application of embryology to design of tissue constructs and development of new technologies.

• Alison McGuigan (Univ. of Toronto)
  Designing In Vitro Tools to Pattern Gene Expression using Inducible Gene Expression
• Elizabeth Jones (McGill Univ.)
  Ontogeny of Mechanosensation during Vascular Development

Co-sponsored by AAA’s Advisory Committee for Young Anatomists

This symposium offers a platform for the presentation of both clinical and basic cutting edge research on craniofacial development with a focus on the correlation between the anatomical defects observed in human anomalies and the genetics, cellular, or molecular pathways that may be involved in these syndromic and non-syndromic birth defects.

Sponsored by CSAS and AAA

The nervous system is a dynamic organ, prone to injury and degeneration. Its complexity renders efforts to repair injuries difficult.  Tissue engineering and stem cells have the potential to alleviate some of these challenges. This session, sponsored by the Chinese Society of Anatomical Sciences together with AAA, will explore conditions such as stroke, allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and focal ischemia. The speakers will discuss mediators of autophagy and apoptosis during focal ischemia; describe an animal model for allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE); and the role of a Didox in inhibiting the progression of EAE. The potential of stem cell tissue engineering in individuals with stroke and the role of endomorphin in antinociception will also be discussed.

Co-sponsored by Canadian Association for Anatomy, Neurobiology & Cell Biology

Since the seminal experiments by Ramon y Cajal, neuroscientists have faced a tremendous obstacle in stimulating the central nervous system of adult mammals to regenerate after trauma, both structurally and functionally.  It is now appreciated that central neurons are, in fact, capable of substantial regrowth of severed axons. It is, however, the damaged central environment that poses many challenges to replacing the lost neurons and oligodendrocytes, as well as for the sustained elongation of regenerating axons.  The damaged central environment can be modified by 1) the implantation of exogenous cells, 2) the activation of endogenous progenitor cells, 3) the alteration of neuronal receptors for growth factors, and/or 4) the neutralization of inhibitory extracellular matrix molecules.  All of these experimental strategies have yielded beneficial outcomes regarding the successful regeneration of the damaged brain and spinal cord.  Speakers in this symposium, all of whom hail from Canada, will discuss their recent findings in the field of neural regeneration.  This session will highlight the challenges and successes regarding neural cell replacement and the regrowth of severed axons in the central nervous system of adult mammals.

Supported by an educational grant from Springer

The developing brain is formed through an orchestrated pattern of neuronal migration, leading to the formation of heterogeneous functional regions in the adult. Several essential proteins and pathways have been identified as mediators of developmental neuronal migration and cell positioning. However, these proteins and pathways do not cease to be functionally relevant after the embryonic and early postnatal period; instead, they switch from guiding cells, to guiding synapses. The vast majority of synapses in the adult brain are formed on dendritic spines, which are small, motile membrane protrusions that occur at intervals along neuronal dendritic processes. The number and morphology of spines and synapses fluctuates with environmental experience and synaptic activity, and many of the molecular guidance cues that mediate cell migration transition to a role in synapse formation and plasticity in the adult. The outcome of synaptic guidance determines the strength and plasticity of neuronal networks. Speakers will describe the contributions of signaling pathways traditionally associated with neuronal development to plasticity in the adult and aging brain.

 • Nibaldo Inestrosa (Pontifica Catholic Univ.)
   Activation of Brain Wnt Signaling In Vivo: Effect on LTP and Neurogenesis

Sponsored by SBA and AAA

In the Morphometry and Applied Anatomy session, jointly sponsored by the Sociedade Brasileira de Anatomia and the AAA, speakers will discuss their work evaluating morphological features and parameters that can be used to guide and assess clinical interventions and diagnoses.  These studies include an assessment of various techniques to evaluate peripheral neuropathies; analysis of the morphological features associated with the development of myocardial bridges and determination of the efficacy of different vascular grafts for myocardial revascularization and peritoneal grafts for tendon replacement.

Although they occur at different ends of the life spectrum, embryonic tissue development and adult wound repair share a remarkable number of similarities: molecules, cells, and mechanisms controlling the formation of tissues in an embryo are the same as the molecules and mechanisms activated after injury. There is one big difference: the time scale and the extent/distribution of tissue-forming activity. Come and listen to outstanding speakers talking about their research using a variety of models (flies, mice, human) that illustrate the conservative nature of biology.  In the end, “development” and “wound repair” are just two sides of the same coin.

Supported by an educational grant from Hamilton Thorne, Inc.

Our knowledge of the cell nucleus stands on the edge of significant advance.  Subjects that were once controversial are moving toward resolution.  Others that couldn't have been controversial, simply for lack of data, are coming to light.  This symposium will address four topics impacting our understanding of nuclear structure, physiology, and evolutionary origin: (1) the nucleolinus, a little known compartment thought by early investigators to play a role in cell division; (2) the plurifunctional nucleolus, covering new and surprising functions of a compartment previously thought to be well understood; (3) unexpected roles of nuclear lamins and how hundreds of disease-causing mutations are providing original insights into alternative lamin functions; and (4) new insights on the evolution of the nucleus and the role played by symbiosis in the origin of eukaryotes.  This session promises to have participants saying to themselves and to each other, "I didn't know that!"

Advances in computational modeling, imaging, and simulation allow researchers to build and test models of increasingly complex phenomena and thus to generate unprecedented amounts of data. These advances have created the need to make corresponding progress in our ability to understand large amounts of data and information arising from multiple sources. In fact, to effectively understand and make use of the vast amounts of information being produced is one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century.  Visualization, namely helping researchers explore measured or simulated data to gain insight into structures and relationships within the data, will be critical in achieving this goal and is fundamental to understanding models of complex phenomena.  Each speaker will introduce new visualization techniques and software that can help gain insight into large-scale and often complex data.

• Nicolas L'Heureux (Cytograft Tissue Engineering)

Developing a Completely Biological Tissue-engineered Blood Vessel for Clinical Use
• Margaret McNulty (Rush Univ. Medical Center)
Adult Stem Cell Mobilization to Enhance Intramembranous Bone Regeneration in the Mouse
• Karen Christman (UC San Diego)
Injectable Extracellular Matrix Derived Hydrogel for Cardiac Repair
• David Burmeister (Wake Forest Univ.)
Age-dependent Impairments in Rat Bladder Regeneration
• Rohan Balkawade (Louisiana Tech Univ.)
Bioactive Nanomaterials for Enhanced Wound Healing
• Chelsea Bahney (Univ. of California, San Fancisco)
Tissue Engineering Bone by Recapitulating Developmental and Repair Programs offers Improved Biological Outcomes
• Xiaohua Liu (Baylor College of Dentistry)
Nano-fibrous Microspheres with Sustained Growth Factor Delivery for Bone Regeneration
• Kurt Hankenson (Univ. of Pennsylvania)
Notch Signaling through the Jagged-1 Ligand Regulates Mesenchymal Progenitor Differentiation and Tissue Regeneration

• Radek Sindelka (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research)
A Novel Kinin-kallikrein Pathway Regulates Vertebrate Mouth Formation
• Xin Li (UCSF)
A Novel Gene Crispld2 may Contribute to Facial Dysmophology in a Chicken Model of Crouzon’s Syndrome
• Kateryna Kyrylkova (Oregon State Univ.)
The Role of the Transcription Factor BCL11B in the Regulation of Growth and Asymmetric Development of the Mouse Incisor
• Lisa Sandell (Univ. of Louisville)
Regulated Metabolism of Vitamin A by Retinol Dehydrogenase 10 is Critical for Embryonic Development of the Heart
• Thomas Cunningham (Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute)
Retinoic Acid Antagonism of Fgf8 during Forelimb Development
• Cecilia Gouveia (Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Univ. of Sao Paulo)
Alpha2A and Alpha2C Adrenergic Receptors are Involved in the Regulation of Bone Growth, Structure and Function
• Lisa Cooper (Univ. of Illinois)
Cellular Patterns of Bat (Carollia) Forelimb Skeletogenesis and their Biomechanical Consequences