Publications

Key Publications:  for full list, please visit my google scholar profile.

Bone marrow modeling for physiology, radiation, and cancer:

• Tavakol, D.N.,* Baldassarri, I.,* Graney, P.L., Hibshoosh, H., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. “Mimicking breast cancer metastatic colonization using an engineered human bone marrow model.” Accepted, PNAS.    *denotes co-first authorship

• Hirakawa, H., Gao, L., Tavakol, D.N., Vunjak-Novakovic, G., Lei Ding. (2023). “Dedifferentiation of bone marrow adipocytes promotes the regeneration of hematopoietic stem cells.” Nature Genetics, 55(11):1941-1952.

• Tavakol, D.N., Nash, T.R., Kim, Y., He, S., Fleischer, S., Graney, P.L., Brown, J.A., Liberman, M., Tamargo, M., Harken, A., Ferrando, A., Amundson, S., Garty, G., Azizi, E., Leong, K.W., Brenner, D.J., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2023). “Modeling and countering the effects of cosmic radiation using bioengineered human tissues.” Biomaterials, 301:122267.

• Tavakol, D.N.*, Tratwal, J.,* Bonini F.,* Genta, M., Brefie-Guth, J., Braschler, T., Naveiras, O. (2021). “Cryogel-based injectable 3D microcarrier co-culture for maintenance of intact hematopoietic niches.” Current protocols in stem cell biology, 1(11), e275.

• Tavakol, D.N., Chen, J., Chavkin, N.W., Tavakol, T.N., Hirschi, K.K., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2021). “Lessons from biology: design considerations in modeling human hematopoiesis.” Current Stem Cell Reports 7:174-184. (Topical Collection on Stem Cell Switches and Regulators).

• Tavakol, D.N.,* Tratwal, J.,* Bonini F.,* Genta, M., Campos, V., Burch, P., Hoenel, S., Beduer, A., Alessandrini, M., Naveiras, O, Braschler, T. (2020). “Injectable, scalable 3D tissue-engineered model of marrow hematopoiesis.” Biomaterials, 232: 119665.

Multi-organ-on-a-chip models:

• Tavakol, D.N., Nash, T.R., Kim, Y., Graney, P.L., Liberman, M., Fleischer, S., O’Donnell, A., Andrews, L., Yeager, K., Harken, A., Deoli, N., Amundson, S., Garty, G., Leong, K.W., Brenner, D.J., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2024) “Assessing the effects of protracted space radiation in an integrated human multi-tissue platform.” Advanced Science, 2401415. 

• Ronaldson-Bouchard, K., Teles, D., Yeager, K., Tavakol, D.N., Zhao, Y., Chramiec, A., Tagore, S., Summers, M., Stylianos, S., Tamargo, M., Lee, B.M., Halligan, S., Abaci, E.H., Guo, Z., Jackow, J., Pappalardo, A., Shih, J., Soni, R., Sonar, S., German, C., Christiano, A., Califano, A., Hirschi, K.K., Chen, C.S., Przekwas, A., Vunjak-Novakovic, G.  (2022) “Inter-organ chips with matured tissue niches linked by vascular flow.” Nature Biomedical Engineering 6:351-371. (with Cover Photo & Behind the paper: A human-on-chip for drug testing.) Highlight: AM Shah and JJ Han Highlight: AM Shah and JJ Han Individualized human physiology modeled in the first multi-organ chip of engineered human tissue. Artificial organs 1-2 (2022). Highlight: Nina Vogt Modeling Multi-organ systems on a chip. Nature Methods 19: 641.

• Graney, P.L., Tavakol., D.N., Chramiec, A., Ronaldson-Bouchard, K., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2021). “Engineering models of cancer metastasis with immune cells.” iScience, 24(3), 102179.

• Fleischer, S., Tavakol, D.N., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2020). “From capillaries to arteries: approaches to engineering scalable human vasculature.” Advanced Functional Materials, 1910811 (with Cover Photo).

Engineering human tissue models from iPSCs:

• Tavakol, D.N., Fleischer, S., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2021). “Harnessing organs-on-a-chip to model tissue regeneration.” Cell Stem Cell, 28(6), 993-1015.

• Lock, R.I.*, Graney, P.L.,* Tavakol, D.N., Nash, T.R., Sanchez, E., Ning, D., Fleischer, S., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2024). “iPSC-derived macrophages modulate human engineered cardiac tissue function.” Cell Reports, 43(6), 114302.

• Wu, J., Yeager, K., Tavakol, D.N., Morsink, M., Wang, B., Soni, R., Hung, C., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2023). “Directed Differentiation of Human iPSCs into Mesenchymal Lineages by Optogenetic Control of TGF-β Signaling.” Cell Reports, 42(5):112509.

Scientific dissemination:

• Tavakol, D.N.,* Fleischer, S.,* Falcucci, T.,* Graney, P.,* Halligan, S., Kaplan, D., Vunjak-Novakovic, G. (2022). “Emerging Trajectories for Next Generation Tissue Engineers.” ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 8(11): 4598-4604.

• Tavakol, D.N. and Emmons, K. (2019). “Design of a student-led organizational partnership to host an annual statewide Science Olympiad K-12 outreach tournament.” Advances in Physiology Education, 43(3), 401-407. 

• Tavakol, D.N.*, Broshkevitch, C.J.*, Guilford, W.H., and Peirce, S.M. (2018). “Design and Implementation of a Student-Taught Course on Research in Regenerative Medicine.” Advances in Physiology Education, 42(2), 360-367.