Chase Cornelison

Assistant Professor

Research areas include development and characterization of soft materials, neural tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, interstitial fluid flow, cell-matrix / cell-cell interactions, and the tumor microenvironment

Current Research

Our group is motivated by the clinical need to create effective therapies to repair the injured nervous system. Towards this end, we develop and use benchtop models of neural tissue and cancer in which to identify therapeutically relevant cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions. We then re-engineer these interactions into implantable biomaterials for controlling and remodelling the response to injury. A second division of the lab is researching the role of pathological changes to biophysical forces in trauma, such as interstitial fluid flow, towards developing new strategies for neuroprotection and repair.

Academic Background

BS University of Tennessee - Knoxville, 2011
PhD University of Texas at Austin, 2015
Postdoctoral Training: University of Virginia / Virginia Tech, 2015-2019

Publications

Brooks EA*, Galarza S*, Gencoglu MF*, Cornelison RC, Munson JM, Peyton SR (2019). Applicability of Drug Response Metrics for Cancer Studies using Biomaterials. 374.1779.*Equal contributions

Cornelison RC, Brennan CE, Kingsmore KM, Munson JM (2018). Convective forces increase CXCR4-dependent glioblastoma cell invasion in GL261 murine model. Scientific Reports, 8.1: 17057.

Cornelison RC and Munson JM (2018). Perspective on translating biomaterials into glioma therapy: Lessons from in vitro models. Frontiers in Materials, 5: 27.

Da Mesquita S, Louveau A, Vaccari A, Smirnov I, Cornelison RC, Kingsmore KM, Contarino C, Onengut-Gumuscu S, Farber E, Raper D, Viar KE, Baker W, Dabhi N, Oliver G, Rich S, Munson JM, Overall CC, Acton ST, Kipnis J (2018). Functional aspects of meningeal lymphatics in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Nature, 560.7717: 185. PMID: 30046111. Featured on journal cover.

Cornelison RC, Wellman SW, Park JH, Porvasnik SL, Song YH, Wachs RA, Schmidt CE (2018). Development of an apoptosis-assisted decellularization method for maximal preservation of nerve tissue structure. Acta Biomaterialia, 1.77: 116-126. PMID: 29981947. Featured by Science Magazine.

Cerqueira SR, Lee YS, Cornelison RC, Mertz MW, Wachs RA, Schmidt CE, Bunge MB (2018). Decellularized nerve matrix supports Schwann cell transplants and axon growth following spinal cord injury. Biomaterials, 177: 176-185. PMID: 29929081.

Cornelison RC, Gonzalez-Rothi EJ, Porvasnik SL, Wellman SM, Park JH, Fuller DD, Schmidt CE (2018). Injectable hydrogels of optimized acellular nerve for injection into the injured spinal cord. Biomedical Materials, 13.3: 034110. PMID: 29380749.

Chase Cornelison

Institute for Applied Life Sciences