Steven R. Caliari
· Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering ChE Graduate Program DirectorUniversity of Virginia · Biomedical Engineering
Active 2011–2026
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About
The Caliari Lab is based in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. We engineer biomaterials to better understand the dynamic reciprocity between cells and their microenvironment. We apply these platforms to address fundamental human health challenges including: Treatment of fibrotic diseases, Repair and replacement of musculoskeletal tissues. Life is constantly evolving and happening in three dimensions, and yet most of what we know about how cells interact with their environment comes from work on flat and hard surfaces that do a poor job of recapitulating the architecture, mechanics, and biologics of tissues and organs. We believe that the development of dynamic biomaterial tools that re-create the heterogeneous microenvironments of physiological and pathological conditions is essential to addressing challenges facing modern medicine.
Research topics
- Chemistry
- Materials science
- Composite material
- Biology
- Biophysics
- Cell biology
- Anatomy
- Biomedical engineering
- Engineering
- Medicine
Selected publications
Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering · 2021 · 56 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingGuest–Host Supramolecular Assembly of Injectable Hydrogel Nanofibers for Cell Encapsulation
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering · 2021 · 45 citations
Senior authorCorresponding')) than unmixed guest hydrogel fibers (1.0 ± 0.1 kPa) or host hydrogel fibers (1.1 ± 0.1 kPa) separately. The reversible nature of the guest-host supramolecular interactions also allowed for shear-thinning and self-healing behavior as demonstrated by cyclic deformation testing. Human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) encapsulated in fibrous hydrogels demonstrated satisfactory viability following injection and after 7 days of culture (>85%). Encapsulated hMSCs were more spread and elongated when…
ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering · 2024-04-12 · 16 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorCorrespondingHydrogels have gained significant popularity as model platforms to study reciprocal interactions between cells and their microenvironment. While hydrogel tools to probe many characteristics of the extracellular space have been developed, fabrication approaches remain challenging and time-consuming, limiting multiplexing or widespread adoption. Thus, we have developed a modular fabrication approach to generate distinct hydrogel microenvironments within the same 96-well plate for increased through…
Cell Biomaterials · 2025-04-08 · 15 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorFibroblast activation drives fibrotic disease; however, the complex interplay of how tissue mechanics and macrophage signaling combine to influence fibroblast activation remains unclear. Using hyaluronic acid hydrogels to mimic lung stiffness and viscoelasticity, we investigated macrophage influence on fibroblast activation. Fibroblasts cultured on stiff (50 kPa) hydrogels mimicking fibrotic tissue exhibit increased activation, as measured by cell spreading and type I collagen and cadherin-11 ex…
Advanced Healthcare Materials · 2023-05-23 · 10 citations
articleOpen accessSenior authorCorrespondingUterosacral ligament suspension (USLS) is a common surgical treatment for pelvic organ prolapse (POP). However, the relatively high failure rate of up to 40% underscores a strong clinical need for complementary treatment strategies, such as biomaterial augmentation. Herein, the first hydrogel biomaterial augmentation of USLS in a recently established rat model is described using an injectable fibrous hydrogel composite. Supramolecularly-assembled hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel nanofibers encapsul…
Recent grants
Aligned and Conductive 3D Collagen Scaffolds for Skeletal Muscle Tissue Engineering
NIH · $356k · 2019–2022
Designing cell-instructive hydrogels to understand and exploit mechanobiology
NIH · $1.8M · 2020–2025
NIH · $114k · 2017
Frequent coauthors
- 23 shared
Brendan A.C. Harley
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- 12 shared
Daniel W. Weisgerber
University of California, San Francisco
- 11 shared
Jason A. Burdick
University of Colorado Boulder
- 7 shared
Maryna Perepelyuk
- 7 shared
Rebecca G. Wells
University of Pennsylvania
- 7 shared
Jenna L. Sumey
University of Virginia
- 6 shared
B J Miller
University of Virginia
- 6 shared
George J. Christ
University of Virginia
Education
- 2013
PhD, Chemical Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2010
MS, Chemical Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 2007
BS, Chemical Engineering
University of Florida
Awards & honors
- SEAS Copenhaver Fellow 2023
- UVA Research Excellence Award 2021
- Young Innovator in Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering 202…
- NSF CAREER Award 2021
- NIH (NIGMS) Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA)…
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