When
Monday, October 27, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.
Kaushal Rege
Professor and Director, Center for Biomaterials Innovation and Translation, Biodesign Institute
Chair, Biological Design Graduate Program
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy
Arizona State University
"Immunomodulatory Biomolecular Interventions for Skin Tissue Repair and Melanoma"
Keating 103 | Zoom link
Hosts: Swarna Ganesh and Kellen Chen
Abstract: Complications associated with ineffective tissue repair, such as slow or non-healing injuries, cost the U.S. healthcare system approximately $20 billion annually—nearly 5% of total Medicare and Medicaid spending. Impaired or dysregulated healing, particularly in chronic wounds associated with diabetes, obesity, and aging, leads to prolonged morbidity, increased infection risk, diminished quality of life, and substantial medical costs.
Normal wound healing proceeds through a spatiotemporal sequence encompassing early hemostasis and immune cell–mediated regenerative inflammation, followed by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), proliferation, and remodeling. However, diabetic wounds are characterized by poor immune cell recruitment, impaired angiogenesis, oxidative stress, and compromised remodeling, resulting in persistent low-level inflammation that hinders progression to reparative stages.
Recent studies indicate that the dysfunction of immune cells—particularly neutrophils, macrophages, and mast cells—plays a critical role in failed “regenerative inflammation.” This talk will highlight recent findings demonstrating that pharmacological engagement of histamine receptors can mimic endogenous regenerative inflammation, promoting wound closure and tissue repair in diabetic and obese mice. Dr. Rege will also discuss the design, synthesis, and evaluation of polyvalent histamine agonists and explore how differential prokaryotic methylation in plasmid DNA can activate immune pathways to promote wound healing, tissue repair, and melanoma treatment.
Bio: Kaushal Rege is a professor of chemical engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy (SEMTE) at Arizona State University. He serves as director of the Biodesign Center for Biomaterials Innovation and Translation (CBIT) and chair of the Biological Design Graduate Program.
His research group focuses on molecular and nanoscale technologies for tissue repair, wound healing, and cancer. Rege has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is an inventor on multiple patents and patent applications. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE) in 2017 and has received numerous honors including the Young Investigator Award from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the New Investigator Award from the American Society for Photobiology and ASU's Fulton Exemplar Faculty Award.
Rege has served as chairperson of the NIH Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering (MTE) study section, co-chair of the 2024 ECI Conference on Nanotechnology in Medicine and associate editor of Bioengineering and Translational Medicine (Wiley). He is also co-founder of Endotat Biotechnologies, LLC. Over his career, Rege has mentored more than 70 research faculty, postdocs and graduate students, and 60+ undergraduates who have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry.