About the Lab
Our lab focuses on understanding the regenerative capacity of the vagina after injury toward developing novel therapies for scarless wound healing. Our group operates under the interdisciplinary team of physicians, scientists, and engineers in the Laboratory for Regenerative Tissue Repair at Texas Children’s Hospital. We are particularly interested in defining the roles of mechanical forces, extracellular matrix, and inflammation in the wound healing process using the vagina as an archetype model of regenerative responses to injury. We use our studies to translate bench discoveries into bedside applications in achieving anti-fibrotic therapies to improve outcomes for patients.
Pediatric gynecologist clinician-scientist, Dr. Julie Hakim, leads our group in exploring gynecologic innovation and device design. We are passionate about improving women and girls’ health via the study and evaluation of novel GYN related medical device designs. Among our pursuits of device design and innovation, we are pioneering vaginal stents specifically for adolescents to prevent complications from vaginal fibrosis after surgeries addressing reproductive anomalies. Our mission is to translate our research discoveries into clinical applications for developing vaginal anti-fibrotic therapies and ultimately improving outcomes for patients.
Studies
An Avant-Garde Model of Injury-Induced Regenerative Vaginal Wound Healing. Jennifer M McCracken, Swathi Balaji, Sundeep G Keswani, Julie C-E Hakim. Adv Wound Care. 2020; doi: 10.1089/wound.2020.1198. PMID: 32602816
Emerging technologies in pediatric gynecology: new paradigms in women’s health care. Megan Wancura, Jennifer M McCracken, Emily Steen, Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez, Sundeep Keswani, Julie C-E Hakim. Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Oct;31(5):309-316. doi: 10.1097/GCO.0000000000000563. PMID: 31369479.
Tubo-Ovarian Abscesses in Nonsexually Active Adolescent Females: A Large Case Series. Hakim J, Childress KJ, Hernandez AM, Bercaw-Pratt JL. J Adolesc Health. 2019 Aug;65(2):303-305. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.02.009. PMID: 31196784.
Can We Improve Vaginal Tissue Healing Using Customized Devices: 3D Printing and Biomechanical Changes in Vaginal Tissue. Hakim J, Smith PA, Singh M, Han Z, Raghunathan R, Wyman O, Guffey D, Larin KV, Cohn W, Dietrich JE. Gynecol Obstet Invest. 2019;84(2):145-153. doi: 10.1159/000491696. PMID: 30269139.
Noncytotoxic-Related Primary Ovarian Insufficiency in Adolescents: Multicenter Case Series and Review. Kanner L, Hakim JCE, Davis Kankanamge C, Patel V, Yu V, Podany E, Gomez-Lobo V. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2018 Dec;31(6):597-604. doi: 10.1016/j.jpag.2018.06.006. PMID: 29940314.
Pediatric medical device development by surgeons via capstone engineering design programs. Sack BS, Elizondo RA, Huang GO, Janzen N, Espinoza J, Sanz-Cortes M, Dietrich JE, Hakim J, Richardson ES, Oden M, Hanks J, Haridas B, Hury JF, Koh CJ. J Pediatr Surg. 2018 Mar;53(3):493-498. doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2017.01.06. PMID: 28196661
Providers' Experiences with Vaginal Dilator Training for Patients with Vaginal Agenesis. Patel V, Hakim J, Gomez-Lobo V, Amies Oelschlager AM. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2018 Feb;31(1):45-47. doi: 10.1016/j.jpag.2017.07.006. PMID: 28826904.
Vaginal Wound Healing
We are particularly interested in defining the roles of estrogen, mechanical forces, extracellular matrix (particularly hyaluronic acid) and inflammation in the wound healing process of vaginal tissue and committed to helping women’s vaginal heal better. We are investigating this in both in vitro and in vivo model systems as part of our basic science research arm.
Vaginal Device Design
We are developing vaginal stents suited for pediatric and adult patients to address anatomic-specific needs for these patients. We aim to reduce early discontinuation of stent use postoperatively and improve postsurgical outcomes with regards to restenosis for girls who have undergone neo-vaginal creation and for women who have undergone pelvic surgery or radiation due to gynecologic cancer treatment. It is our hope that this newly redesigned stent will also benefit post-radiation and post-hysterectomy patients by providing a more comfortable, ergonomic and efficient stent option than the currently available model
Vaginal Modeling
We are inspired by the tissue engineering community leading organs-on-chip efforts to create a “vagina on a chip” model. We and collaborators are in devising such a biomimetic vaginal model to allow drugs or devices to be tested on a micro-sized replicate of the vaginal and reproductive environment to enhance discovery, efficacy and cost efficiency.