This research area of the Swingle lab seeks to understand biomaterial interactions with female-specific tissues to develop safe and effective therapeutics for conditions that solely or disproportionately affect women. Through collaborations within Rice Bioengineering and the Texas Medical Center, we will establish and employ a combination of in vitro (2D immortalized cells, transwell models, organoids), ex vivo (primary mouse and human samples), and in vivo (mice, rats, guinea pig) models to study biomaterial interactions with these tissues.

There are distinct biological barriers, microenvironments, and design considerations for female-specific tissues such as the placenta and reproductive tract. The Swingle Lab works to engineer delivery technologies that can overcome these tissue-specific biological barriers for safe and effective therapeutics to treat disorders such as pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, endometriosis, and vaginal infections.