Noor Mahmoud, “Can UC2288 Improve Cell Capacity of Mesenchymal Stem Cells?”
Mentor: Priyatha Premnath, Biomedical Engineering

When p21, a gene on a chromosome that helps regulate the cell cycle, was taken out of all the cells in a mouse, it showed that there was increased bone healing after a fracture. Currently, this research is trying to investigate which specific cells were responsible for that increased healing. In this research, a drug called UC2288, a p21 inhibitor, is put on differentiated mesenchymal stem cells that were extracted from the femurs and tibias of mice. One experiment had 5 micro molars of UC2288 placed in eight wells of forty thousand cells each for 24 hours. Every two well plates were then renewed with either chondrogenic, osteogenic, adipose, and DMEM media for twenty-one days. The second experiment also used 5 micro molars of UC2288 on eight wells with sixty thousand cells each for 48 hours. Every two well plates were then renewed with either chondrogenic, osteogenic, adipose, and DMEM media for twenty-one days. These experiments are currently ongoing, but the anticipated results are that p21 inhibition does increase cell growth, which can then be used to show that it increases bone healing.