April Kloxin

Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of Delaware

  • Newark DE

Prof. Kloxin's research group seeks to design responsive materials for tissue regeneration.

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University of Delaware

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Biography

April Kloxin's research group seeks to design responsive materials and to use them to understand and direct complex biological processes relevant to tissue regeneration and disease. We design materials to mimic soft tissues and whose properties can be modified at locations and times of interest. These unique biomaterials are used as a flexible platform for cell culture to ask fundamental questions about how the environment surrounding a cell influences regeneration or disease progression. These findings are utilized to develop better strategies for tissue repair or disease treatment towards improving human health and quality of life.

Industry Expertise

Biotechnology

Areas of Expertise

Stimuli-Responsive Materials
Biomaterials
3D Cell Culture
Tissue Engineering
Drug Delivery

Media Appearances

New tool for understanding disease | UDaily

University of Delaware  online

2023-03-08

“The big problem we’re trying to address is the need for improved human disease models,” said Kloxin, Thomas and Kipp Gutshall Development Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “In this case, we’re talking about breast cancer, specifically late recurrence that occurs at sites far away from the original tumor, which can be really difficult to detect in a timeframe that’s useful for treating the patient before additional growth and spread of the cancer from those sites occurs.

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April Kloxin wins NIH innovator award

EurekAlert!  online

2019-10-09

Kloxin, Centennial Career Development Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and associate professor of materials science and engineering, is one of 60 researchers from across the country who received the 2019 NIH Director's New Innovator Award. This award supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received a research project grant or equivalent NIH grant.

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Biomimicry exhibit encourages kids to see nature in new ways

Delaware Public Media  online

2019-05-31

The exhibit, back at the museum for a second time, focuses on inspiring curiosity about the natural world in children of all ages. "To reach pre-K kids, before they are even literate, we have to find a way to break down complex concepts," said Dr. Kloxin.

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Articles

Systematic d-Amino Acid Substitutions to Control Peptide and Hydrogel Degradation in Cellular Microenvironments

ACS Macro Letters

2023

Enzymatically degradable peptides are commonly used as linkers within hydrogels for biological applications; however, controlling the degradation of these engineered peptides with different contexts and cell types can prove challenging. In this work, we systematically examined the substitution of d-amino acids (D-AAs) for different l-amino acids in a peptide sequence commonly utilized in enzymatically degradable hydrogels (VPMS↓MRGG) to create peptide linkers with a range of different degradation times, in solution and in hydrogels, and investigated the cytocompatibility of these materials. We found that increasing the number of D-AA substitutions increased the resistance to enzymatic degradation both for free peptide and peptide-linked hydrogels; yet, this trend also was accompanied by increased cytotoxicity in cell culture.

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Dynamic bioinspired coculture model for probing ER+ breast cancer dormancy in the bone marrow niche

Science Advances

2023

Late recurrences of breast cancer are hypothesized to arise from disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) that reactivate after dormancy and occur most frequently with estrogen receptor–positive (ER+) breast cancer cells (BCCs) in bone marrow (BM). Interactions between the BM niche and BCCs are thought to play a pivotal role in recurrence, and relevant model systems are needed for mechanistic insights and improved treatments. We examined dormant DTCs in vivo and observed DTCs near bone lining cells and exhibiting autophagy. To study underlying cell-cell interactions, we established a well-defined, bioinspired dynamic indirect coculture model of ER+ BCCs with BM niche cells, human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and fetal osteoblasts (hFOBs). hMSCs promoted BCC growth, whereas hFOBs promoted dormancy and autophagy, regulated in part by tumor necrosis factor–α and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 receptor signaling.

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Cell Therapy Biomanufacturing: Integrating Biomaterial and Flow‐Based Membrane Technologies for Production of Engineered T‐Cells

Advanced Materials Technologies

2023

Adoptive T‐cell therapies (ATCTs) are increasingly important for the treatment of cancer, where patient immune cells are engineered to target and eradicate diseased cells. The biomanufacturing of ATCTs involves a series of time‐intensive, lab‐scale steps, including isolation, activation, genetic modification, and expansion of a patient's T‐cells prior to achieving a final product. Innovative modular technologies are needed to produce cell therapies at improved scale and enhanced efficacy. In this work, well‐defined, bioinspired soft materials are integrated within flow‐based membrane devices for improving the activation and transduction of T‐cells.

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Accomplishments

American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Division 15D/E Plenary

2020

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

2019

Biomaterials Science Lectureship

2019

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Education

University of Colorado

PhD

Chemical and Biological Engineering

2009

North Carolina State University

MS

Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

2004

North Carolina State University

BS

Chemical Engineering

2001

Languages

  • English

Event Appearances

“‘Mix and Match’: local delivery of protein-based biologics using responsive microgels”

(2020) World Biomaterials Congress (WBC)  

“Designing soft biomaterials with multiscale properties as instructive synthetic extracellular matrices”

(2020) Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall National Meeting  

“Engineered systems for controlling cellular microenvironments: from designing synthetic extracellular matrices to probing cell responses in disease models”

(2020) American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) National Meeting  

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Patents

MULTIMODE DEGRADABLE HYDROGELS FOR CONTROLLED RELEASE OF CARGO SUBSTANCES

US20170258907A1

n/a

SELECTIVE CAPTURE AND RELEASE OF RARE CELLS USING PHOTODEGRADABLE HYDROGELS IN A MICROFLUIDIC PLATFORM

US20160153999A1

n/a

PHOTODEGRADABLE GROUPS FOR TUNABLE POLYMERIC MATERIALS

US9180196B2

n/a