Aruna Santhagunam

PhD student


Research Interests

My research work aims at establishing an efficient and safe non-viral based methodology to genetically engineer Synovial Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) to rapidly promote the ex-vivo formation of cartilage for the treatment of Osteoarthritis (OA) or Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The work involves the novel trend in Gene activated matrix (GAM), a biodegradable scaffold (where the evaluated bioactive compound could be included) including plasmid DNA previously complexed with cationic polymers would be developed.

Selected Publications

Santhagunam A, Madeira C, Cabral JM. Genetically engineered stem cell-based strategies for articular cartilage regeneration. Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 59(2):121-31(2012)

 

Santhagunam A, Dos Santos F, Salgueiro J. B, Madeira C, Cabral JM.Isolation and ex vivo expansion of synovial mesenchymal stromal cells for cartilage repair. Cytotherapy.1-4(2013)

 

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