The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville



The Department of Surgery

Tom Masi, PhD

Assistant Professor
Division of Surgical Research
Research

Research Focus

The Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine focuses on novel approaches for re-growing bone and nerves that have been damaged due to injury. Drs. Stephenson and Masi are particularly interested in healing bone and nerve damage in the arms and legs using carbon-based nanomaterials - structures that directly stimulate the growth of fat-derived adult stem cells to become new bone and nerve cells to repair injuries. They have recently shown that, using these materials, new nerve and bone cells can be generated that might one day be used clinically to repair damaged tissues. The laboratory is also investigating whether new blood vessels can develop within these therapeutic nanomaterials to help improve nerve and bone growth leading to enhanced tissue regeneration. Their long-term goal is to improve care and outcomes of patients by using their own body's fat-derived adult stem cells to repair injuries that cannot be treated by traditional methods.

Education

Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 2001
PhD

Current Publications

Wu H, Adebesin AM, Falck JR, Xu X, Chen J, Masi TJ, Stephenson SM, Zhao L.
Effects of 17,18-eeq analog (tz-1) on brown adipogenesis and browning of human adipose-derived stromal cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2024 Sep 4;734:150660. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2024.150660. Online ahead of print.

Hancock TJ, Hickman P, Kazerooni N, Kennedy M, Kania SA, Dennis M, Szafranski N, Gerhold R, Su C, Masi T, Smith S, Sparer TE.
Possible cross-reactivity of feline and white-tailed deer antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain. J Virol. 2022 Apr 27;96(8):e0025022. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00250-22. Epub 2022 Mar 30.

MacDonald AF, Trotter RD, Griffin CD, Bow AJ, Newby SD, King WJ, Amelse LL, Masi TJ, Bourdo SE, Dhar MS.
Genetic profiling of human bone marrow and adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells reveals differences in osteogenic signaling mediated by graphene. Journal of Nanobiotechnology. 2021 Sep 22;19(1):285.

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