Elizabeth M. Cosgriff-Hernandez, Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Seminar Information
Debilitating vaginal fibrosis is an under-recognized, poorly understood sequela that occurs in up to 75% of patients who undergo pelvic radiation treatments and 50% of pediatric patients undergoing reconstructive vaginal surgery. Patients with vaginal fibrosis suffer from pain, inability to pass menstrual contents, difficulty with pelvic exams, inability to have intercourse, and may require revision surgery. There is a critical need for a self-fitting vaginal stent that can apply constant pressure to maintain vaginal caliber and prevent fibrosis. We have developed a self-fitting vaginal stent utilizing a shape-memory polymer (SMP) foam that can assume a secondary, compressed shape for ease of deployment. Upon insertion, the change in temperature and hydration initiates foam expansion to shape fit to the individual patient and restore the lumen of the stent to allow egress of vaginal secretions. An emulsion-templated approach was used to fabricate vaginal stents from a polycaprolactone-based SMP. The open pore architecture enabled high compressibility to achieve a radial crimp after fabrication with good shape fixity to facilitate ease of insertion. The stent was evaluated with a custom benchtop pelvic model to quantify stent deployment and lumen retention. Current studies are investigating a perforated spiral geometry that allows for simplified removal of the self-fitting stent after healing. Rabbit animal models are currently being developed to test retention, wound healing, and fibrosis to provide pre-clinical assessment of these novel vaginal stent designs. Overall, this new SMP foam fabrication shows promise in generating a single-use, self-fitting vaginal stent that addresses many of the limitations of current clinical options.
Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and holder of the Cullen Trust for Higher Education Endowed Professorship in Engineering. She received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University under the guidance of Professors Anne Hiltner and Jim Anderson. She then completed a UT-TORCH Postdoctoral Fellowship with Professor Tony Mikos at Rice University with a focus in orthopaedic tissue engineering. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez joined the faculty of the Biomedical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University in 2007 prior to moving to The University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Her laboratory specializes in the development of polymeric biomaterials to improve clinical outcomes of medical devices and regeneration strategies. Her expertise in biomaterials and contributions to the field have been recognized by election as Fellow of the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She is a co-founder of Rhythio Medical, on the scientific advisory board of ECM Biosurgery, and a consultant to several companies on biostability evaluation of medical devices. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry B and currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Society for Biomaterials, Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She has previously served as President of the Society for Biomaterials, Associate Editor of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Part B, and chair of the NIH study section on Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering.