About

Jennifer L. West is the Saunders Family Professor of Engineering and serves as the Dean of the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. She has a distinguished record spanning 30 years as a researcher, teacher, mentor, inventor, and entrepreneur. Her research focuses on the use of biomaterials, nanotechnology, and tissue engineering, applying engineering approaches to studying biological problems and addressing unmet medical needs, particularly in the fight against cancer. Prior to her current role at UVA, she was the Fitzpatrick Family University Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Associate Dean for Ph.D. Education at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, with appointments in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and materials science. Dean West is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Inventors, holding 20 patents licensed to ten companies, including Nanospectra Biosciences Inc., which is conducting human clinical trials of a cancer therapy she invented. Her leadership priorities include enhancing research, increasing experiential learning opportunities, and fostering pathways to entrepreneurship for faculty and students.

Research topics

• Biomedical engineering
• Materials science
• Polymer chemistry
• Social Science
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Nanotechnology
• Composite material
• Political Science
• Medicine
• Engineering ethics
• Medical education
• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Pedagogy
• Chemical engineering
• Public relations
• Engineering
• Chemistry
• Biology

Selected publications

• Telehealth-aided outpatient management of acute heart failure in a specialist virtual ward compared to standard care

  European Heart Journal · 2024-10-01

  article

  Abstract Background/Introduction Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) leads to hospitalisations, frequent re-hospitalisations and mortality. The safety and efficacy of telehealth-guided outpatient ADHF management (virtual ward-VW) as an alternative to hospitalisation has not been assessed previously. Aim The aim of this study was to assess the safety and outcomes of our acute heart failure virtual ward (HFVW) pathway (Figure 1) when compared to hospitalised ADHF patients. Methods This cohort study (May 2022-October 2023) assessed the outcomes of telehealth-guided outpatient ADHF management using bolus intravenous furosemide in a HF-specialist VW. We compared baseline patient characteristics, NTproBNP, ejection fraction, NYHA Class, clinical risk score (Get With the Guidelines-Heart Failure-GWTG-HF), comorbidities (Charlson Co-morbidity Index-CCI), frailty (Rockwood Clinical Frailty Score-CFS), HF therapies and measured clinical outcomes at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months (re-hospitalisations, mortality) in the HFVW cohort versus standard care (ADHF patients managed without telehealth in 2021). Results 554 HFVW ADHF patients (age 73.1±10.9 years; 46% female) were compared with 402 ADHF patients (74.2±11.8; p=0.15 and 49% female) in the standard care cohort (SC). Despite similar baseline patient characteristics, GWTG-HF score, CCI and CFS, re-hospitalisations were significantly lower in the HFVW compared to standard care (1 month - 11.6% vs. 21%, p=0.002; 3 months - 20.4% vs. 30%, p=0.001; 6 months -29.3% vs 41%, p=0.02 and 12 months-48% vs. 57%,p=0.03) whereas mortality was lower at 1 month (6% vs. 14%; p<0.001), 3 months (10.5% vs. 15%; p=0.02) and 6 months (15.5% vs. 21%; p=0.04) (Figure 2). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that an increased daily step count whilst on HFVW independently predicted reduced odds of re-hospitalisations at 1 month (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.7-0.9; p=0.005), 3 months [OR 0.95 (0.93-0.98); p=0.003] and 1 month mortality [OR 0.85 (0.7-0.95), p=0.01]. Whereas CCI predicted adverse 12-month outcomes [OR 1.2 (1.1-1.4), p=0.03]. Higher GWTG-HF score independently predicted increased odds of re-hospitalisation [1-month OR 1.2 (1.1-1.3), p=0.01; 12-month OR 1.1, 1.05-1.2, p=0.03) as well as mortality [1-month OR 1.2 (1.1-1.4), p=0.01; 12-month OR 1.3 (1.1-1.7), p=0.02]. Similarly higher CFS also independently predicted increased odds of re-hospitalisations [1-month OR 1.5 (1.1-2.2), p=0.03; 12-month OR 1.9 (1.2-3, p=0.01] and mortality [1-month OR 2 (1.1-3.5), p=0.02; 12-month OR 2.6 (1.6-10); p=0.02] throughout the follow-up period. Conclusions A telehealth-guided specialist HFVW management strategy for ADHF may offer a safe and efficacious alternative to hospitalisation in suitable patients. Daily step count, GWTG, CCI and CFS can play a vital role in assessing suitability for VW and in predicting risk of adverse clinical outcomes.Heart Failure Virtual Ward PathwayMortality & Re-hospitalisations outcomes

  PublisherDOI

• Detection of Fluorescent Protein Mechanical Switching in Cellulo

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-01-11

  preprintOpen access

  ABSTRACT/SUMMARY The ability of cells to sense and respond to mechanical forces is critical in many physiological and pathological processes. However, the mechanisms by which forces affect protein function inside cells remain unclear. Motivated by in vitro demonstrations of fluorescent proteins (FPs) undergoing reversible mechanical switching of fluorescence, we investigated if force-sensitive changes in FP function could be visualized in cells. Guided by a computational model of FP mechanical switching, we develop a formalism for its detection in Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors and demonstrate its occurrence in cellulo in a synthetic actin-crosslinker and the mechanical linker protein vinculin. We find that in cellulo mechanical switching is reversible and altered by manipulation of cellular force generation as well as force-sensitive bond dynamics of the biosensor. Together, this work describes a new framework for assessing FP mechanical stability and provides a means of probing force-sensitive protein function inside cells. MOTIVATION The ability of cells to sense mechanical forces is critical in developmental, physiological, and pathological processes. Cells sense mechanical cues via force-induced alterations in protein structure and function, but elucidation of the molecular mechanisms is hindered by the lack of approaches to directly probe the effect of forces on protein structure and function inside cells. Motivated by in vitro observations of reversible fluorescent protein mechanical switching, we developed an approach for detecting fluorescent protein mechanical switching in cellulo . This enables the visualization of force-sensitive protein function inside living cells.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Neurogenic Cell Behavior in 3D Culture Enhanced Within a Highly Compliant Synthetic Hydrogel Platform Formed via Competitive Crosslinking

  Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering · 2024-02-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Detection of fluorescent protein mechanical switching in cellulo

  Cell Reports Methods · 2024-07-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  The ability of cells to sense and respond to mechanical forces is critical in many physiological and pathological processes. However, determining the mechanisms by which forces affect protein function inside cells remains challenging. Motivated by in vitro demonstrations of fluorescent proteins (FPs) undergoing reversible mechanical switching of fluorescence, we investigated whether force-sensitive changes in FP function could be visualized in cells. Guided by a computational model of FP mechanical switching, we develop a formalism for its detection in Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors and demonstrate its occurrence in cellulo within a synthetic actin crosslinker and the mechanical linker protein vinculin. We find that in cellulo mechanical switching is reversible and altered by manipulation of cell force generation, external stiffness, and force-sensitive bond dynamics of the biosensor. This work describes a framework for assessing FP mechanical stability and provides a means of probing force-sensitive protein function inside cells.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Synthetic Hydrogels with Entangled Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Influence Tumor Progression in MDA-MB-231 Cells

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2023-09-29 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  ABSTRACT We incorporated neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in a poly(ethylene glycol)-based synthetic extracellular matrix to study their impact on tumorigenesis in triple negative breast carcinoma (TNBC) cells in a highly controlled environment. We observed that NETs helped to increase cell survival, proliferation, and pro-metastatic morphological phenotype. We also showed that the presence of NETs influenced the secretion of IL-8, a pro-NETosis factor, and that conditioned media from cells cultured in these gels influenced NETosis in an IL-8 dependent manner. The results observed in this system correlate with murine models and clinical studies in the literature and help to provide additional insight of the individual factors at play in the NET-mediated promotion of TNBC progression and metastasis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Insights from an AIMBE Workshop: Diversifying Paths to Academic Leadership

  Biomedical Engineering Education · 2023

  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Medical education

  Abstract The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) hosted a virtual symposium titled “Diversifying Paths to Academic Leadership” on January 27 and 28, 2022. The symposium sought to educate the community on the opportunities for and impact of leadership by biomedical engineering faculty, to encourage and invite women faculty, especially women of color, to consider and prepare to pursue leadership roles, to educate faculty on the expectations and duties of these roles, and to highlight experiences and paths to leadership of women engineering leaders. Here we review the main outcomes of the symposium to provide perspective on (1) personal visioning and positioning for leadership, (2) negotiating for success in leadership positions, and (3) leadership strategies for success specific to women faculty and where applicable, faculty of color.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tunable PEG Hydrogels for Discerning Differential Tumor Cell Response to Biomechanical Cues

  Advanced Biology · 2022-08-22 · 15 citations

  articleSenior author

  Increased extracellular matrix (ECM) density in the tumor microenvironment has been shown to influence aspects of tumor progression such as proliferation and invasion. Increased matrix density means cells experience not only increased mechanical properties, but also a higher density of bioactive sites. Traditional in vitro ECM models like Matrigel and collagen do not allow these properties to be investigated independently. In this work, a poly(ethylene glycol)-based scaffold is used which modifies with integrin-binding sites for cell attachment and matrix metalloproteinase 2 and 9 sensitive sites for enzyme-mediated degradation. The polymer backbone density and binding site concentration are independently tuned and the effect each of these properties and their interaction have on the proliferation, invasion, and focal complex formation of two different tumor cell lines is evaluated. It is seen that the cell line of epithelial origin (Hs 578T, triple negative breast cancer) proliferates more, invades less, and forms more mature focal complexes in response to an increase in matrix adhesion sites. Conversely, the cell line of mesenchymal origin (HT1080, fibrosarcoma) proliferates more in 2D culture but less in 3D culture, invades less, and forms more mature focal complexes in response to an increase in matrix stiffness.

  PublisherDOI

• Transcriptomic Analysis of Right Ventricular Adaptation and Failure in a Novel Ovine Model of Pulmonary Hypertension

  The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation · 2022-04-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Reductionist Three-Dimensional Tumor Microenvironment Models in Synthetic Hydrogels

  Cancers · 2022-02-26 · 13 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a determining role in everything from disease progression to drug resistance. As such, in vitro models which can recapitulate the cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions that occur in situ are key to the investigation of tumor behavior and selecting effective therapeutic drugs. While naturally derived matrices can retain the dimensionality of the native TME, they lack tunability and batch-to-batch consistency. As such, many synthetic polymer systems have been employed to create physiologically relevant TME cultures. In this review, we discussed the common semi-synthetic and synthetic polymers used as hydrogel matrices for tumor models. We reviewed studies in synthetic hydrogels which investigated tumor cell interactions with vasculature and immune cells. Finally, we reviewed the utility of these models as chemotherapeutic drug-screening platforms, as well as the future directions of the field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Induction of Neurogenesis and Angiogenesis in a Rat Hemisection Spinal Cord Injury Model With Combined Neural Stem Cell, Endothelial Progenitor Cell, and Biomimetic Hydrogel Matrix Therapy

  Critical Care Explorations · 2021-06-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Acute spinal cord injury is a devastating injury that may lead to loss of independent function. Stem-cell therapies have shown promise; however, a clinically efficacious stem-cell therapy has yet to be developed. Functionally, endothelial progenitor cells induce angiogenesis, and neural stem cells induce neurogenesis. In this study, we explored using a multimodal therapy combining endothelial progenitor cells with neural stem cells encapsulated in a bioactive biomimetic hydrogel matrix to facilitate stem cell-induced neurogenesis and angiogenesis in a rat hemisection spinal cord injury model. DESIGN: Laboratory experimentation. SETTING: University laboratory. SUBJECTS: Female Fischer 344 rats. INTERVENTIONS: Three groups of rats: 1) control, 2) biomimetic hydrogel therapy, and 3) combined neural stem cell, endothelial progenitor cell, biomimetic hydrogel therapy underwent right-sided spinal cord hemisection at T9-T10. The blinded Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan motor score was obtained weekly; after 4 weeks, observational histologic analysis of the injured spinal cords was completed. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: < 0.05) compared with the control group. The acellular biomimetic hydrogel group did not demonstrate a significant improvement in motor function compared with the control group. Immunohistochemistry evaluation of the injured spinal cords demonstrated de novo neurogenesis and angiogenesis in the combined neural stem cell, endothelial progenitor cell, and biomimetic hydrogel therapy group, whereas, in the control group, a gap or scar was found in the injured spinal cord. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates proof of concept that multimodal therapy with endothelial progenitor cells and neural stem cells combined with a bioactive biomimetic hydrogel can be used to induce de novo CNS tissue in an injured rat spinal cord.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant T32GM008362

  NIH · $4.8M · 2011

• NIH Grant R01HL060485

  NIH · $1.3M · 2003

• NIH Grant R01HL097520

  NIH · $1.9M · 2015

• NIH Grant R01HL107765

  NIH · $1.6M · 2016

• NIH Grant T32EB009379

  NIH · $1.6M · 2015

Frequent coauthors

• Naomi J. Halas

  Rice University

  42 shared

• Rebekah A. Drezek

  Rice University

  27 shared

• Mary E. Dickinson

  21 shared

• L. R. Hirsch

  19 shared

• André M. Gobin

  University of Louisville

  18 shared

• John H. Slater

  University of Delaware

  17 shared

• Jennifer E. Saik

  15 shared

• Elizabeth A. Olmsted‐Davis

  Temple University

  13 shared

Awards & honors

• Capers and Marion McDonald Teaching and Research Award, Duke…
• Clemson Award, Society for Biomaterials 2015
• ACS Editors' Choice Manuscript, ACS Journals 2015
• Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher in Materials Science…
• BioHouston's 2009 Women in Science Award 2012