Alumni Spotlight: Jenny Puetzer, Ph.D. 2014

Jenny Puetzer

Jenny Puetzer completed her Ph.D. in the Bonassar Lab in 2014. Her research focused on using mechanical stimulation to engineer whole meniscal constructs with native-like collagen organization. This work gave her a great appreciation for the collagen fiber architecture of tissues throughout the body. 

After graduating, she received a Whitaker International Fellowship to perform her postdoc in the group of Professor Molly Stevens at Imperial College London. Here she developed a system to further explore collagen fiber formation in multiple musculoskeletal tissues and developed materials capable of triggering dual-differentiation of human stem cells for osteochondral repair. Additionally, she was a member of the United Kingdom Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP) Acellular Materials Hub, where she collaborated with researchers from across the UK to develop materials capable of guiding cells to regenerate tissues throughout the body. 

In January 2018, Puetzer became an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Her lab focuses on musculoskeletal tissue engineering for meniscus, tendon and ligament replacement, with particular interest in hierarchical collagen fiber formation, bone integration, and effects of aging and injury. The ultimate goal is to develop functional replacements with native organization and strength, primed for aged and inflammatory environments in vivo.

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