Prabhas V. Moghe Associate Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Graduate Faculty in Biomedical Engineering & Cell and Developmental Biology B.S., (Distinction), University of Bombay, 1988 Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1993 Tel: (732) 445-4951 Fax: (732) 445-2421 email: moghe@rci.rutgers.edu

Research Interests: Cell and Tissue engineering, & Biomimetic Materials.

Dr. Moghe's research group and detailed research page
N.J. confocal microscopy and cell culture facility for biomaterials

Research Description   Professor Moghe's research is concentrated in the areas of a) cellular bioengineering and b) analysis and control of cell-biomaterial interactions and largely focused on the determination of physicochemical parameters governing cell functional responsiveness to biomaterials and ligand/polymer microinterfaces. These perspectives are applied to studies on immune cell engineering to counteract vascular pathogenesis (e.g. atherosclerosis), and engineering ligand-presenting biomimetic material interfaces to control cell functions and motility, applied to functional induction of epithelial tissues likes liver and skin.   Immune Cell Engineering - This work focuses on identifying and controlling the key cell interactions with low density lipoproteins, which regulate LDL binding, uptake, and oxidative damage processes in macrophages. Approaches used to modulate cell-LDL interactions include the use of pharmacologic antioxidant factors which both regulate LDL uptake and neutralize oxidative intracellular stresses and cell apoptosis, and genetic methods involving molecular anti-sense nucleotides to inhibit or compete with LDL uptake and resultant oxidative damage phenomena. The novelty of this work is its clinical premise that effective intervention for atherosclerotic plaque escalation could also be at the level of successful "cellular containment" of oxidized LDL.   Design of Biomimetic Materials - The second major area of Moghe's investigation concerns studies of the physicochemical functional regulation of cells on ligand presenting polymeric biomaterial substrates widely used as candidates for tissue engineering.   Moghe's group is interested in mapping the role of substrate microtography in altering cell adhesive and motility behavior under conditions of varying adhesion ligand density. Moghe's group is currently investigating the mechanisms underlying the effects of combined nanoscale topographic and ligand-induced cell signaling pathways.   Research is also ongoing in the area of applying new micro/nanoscale ligand activation paradigms of cell and tissue engineering phenomena. In one project, the goal will be to examine ligand-specific specific regulation of cell adhesive and motility behavior on scale-dependent PEG distribution on PEG-variant biomaterials. The basis for differential ligand activation of cell motility at varying PEG concentrations is currently being investigated in Moghe's group, using dynamic atomic force microscopy, ligand conformational studies, and probes for ligand-specific signal transduction pathways.   Moghe's group is investigating mechanisms to control micro and nanoscale events during "ligand-reciprocity", which render material interfaces with composite ligands, "biomimetic". They have shown the cell migration can be controlled via the systematic interaction between an exogenous (substrate-based) and endogenous (cell-secreted) ligand (Tjia et al., Biomaterials, 20: 2223, 1999). Current projects probe the critical regulatorory factors related to the material interface which cause the concerted activation through the primary and secondary ligands.   A new project is concerned with using both experimental and theoretical approaches to examine the role of ligand-presenting nanoparticles to accentuate ligand sensing phenomena at biomaterial intefaces. This paradigm may be relevant to the nanoscale manipulation of cell sensory phenomena of ligands in a broad range of areas, including nanoparticulate-based drug delivery and cell incorporation, biosensing, and biofunctional proteomics.

Recent Publications 1. Ranucci, C.S., and Moghe, P.V. Polymer Substrate Topography Actively Regulates the Multicellular Organization and Liver-Specific Functions of Cultured Hepatocytes., Tissue Engineering 5:407-419 (1999). 2. Tjia, J. S., Aneskievich, B., and Moghe, P.V. Substrate-associated collagen and cell-secreted fibronectin concertedly induce cell migration on poly(lactide-co-glycolide) substrates. Biomaterials 20:2223-2233 (1999). 3. Chang, C.C., Schloss, R.S., and Moghe, P.V. Quantitative Analysis of the Regulation of Leukocyte Chemosensory Migration by a Vascular Prosthetic Biomaterial. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Med. 11:337-344 (2000). 4. Tziampazis, E., Kohn, J., and Moghe, P.V. PEG-variant biomaterials as selectively adhesive protein templates: Model surfaces for controlled cell adhesion and migration. Biomaterials 21: 511-520 (2000). 5. Ranucci, C.S., Kumar, A., Batra, S.N., and Moghe, P.V. Control of Hepatocyte Function on Collagen Foams: Sizing Matrix Pores for Selective Induction of 2-D and 3-D Morphogenesis. Biomaterials 21: 783-793 (2000). 6. Semler, E.J., Ranucci, C.S., and Moghe, P.V. Mechanochemical manipulation of hepatocyte aggregation can selectively induce or repress liver-specific function. Biotech. Bioeng. 69: 359-369 (2000). 7. Chang, C.C., Schloss, R.S., and Moghe, P.V. Leukocyte chemosensory migration on prosthetic vascular material is mediated by a beta 2 integrin chain. Biomaterials. 21: 2305-2313 (2000).