Professor Stegemann’s Cell-Matrix Interactions and Tissue Engineering laboratory focuses on the use of extracellular environments to control cell function and promote tissue regeneration. The group’s work involves characterizing how cells interact with the 3D environment that surrounds them in native tissues, including the extracellular matrix, soluble biochemicals, and mechanical forces. The lab then uses this knowledge to create composite materials using proteins and polysaccharides to direct cell function, and to deliver cells for therapeutic purposes. Current application areas are in enhancing bone regeneration through cell therapy, and using advanced imaging techniques to study mechanobiology in progenitor cells.