Matthew D. Wood, PhD
- Phone: 314-362-1275
- Email: woodm@nospam.wudosis.wustl.edu
Specialty Areas
- Peripheral nerve
- Cell biology
- Biomedical engineering
- Tissue engineering
Degrees
Graduate School: Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 2009
Post Doctoral Education
Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada, 2012
Professional Memberships
American Society for Peripheral Nerve
Plastic Surgery Research Council
Associate Member Biomedical Engineering
Society
Society for Engineering Science
Areas of Research Interest
My independent research program focuses on improving the surgeon’s capabilities to manage injuries and reconstruct tissue through basic studies and bioengineering approaches. My research program focuses on two major aspects within my work: (1) to understand the cells and signaling limiting tissue regeneration and (2) to then apply bioengineering approaches to overcome these limits. I also serve as Scientific Director of the Plastic Surgery Research Laboratories, which is a multi-investigator laboratory interested in basic science and translational advances in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery and tissue engineering. The first major topic area in my research program involves understanding and improving nerve regeneration across biomaterials and scaffolds. In this area, I have independent federal funding to study the role of T cells in aiding regeneration across biomaterials, as well as how to modulate T cell-regulated responses to improve regeneration. Additionally, I also have collaborative studies with Susan Mackinnon, where our joint multi-investigator led funding considers how to recruit and enable macrophages to promote angiogenesis and subsequent regeneration across critical-sized nerve defects. I am also involved in a second major topic area in my research program: electrical stimulation to augment tissue regeneration. I wish to understand how electrical stimulation can be used to improve tissue regeneration, both in the context of nerve injury and repair, as well as how nerve regeneration can be “harnessed” to improve functional tissue regeneration.
Innovations
Establishing the impact of an “off-the-shelf” electrical stimulation device for use clinically to improve peripheral nerve regeneration.
Financial Disclosures
2019 – present Recipient of Research Funding from Checkpoint Surgical, Inc.
2019 – present Consultant. Foundry Therapeutics, LLC
2019 – present Consultant, The Foundry, LLC
Publications
Hospital Affiliations
Washington University School of Medicine
Office Location
Clinical Sciences Research Building, Rm 3352A