Research and Publications

Regulation of stemness and differentiation of ESCs, CBSCs and ASCs

• Neurogenesis
• Osteogenesis
• Chondrogenesis
• Adipogenesis
• Myogenesis

Umbilical cord stem cells

• Future treatments for developmental and early childhood diseases, including Leukemia, Sickle-cell anemia, and various immunodeficiencies
• Use of CBSCs to investigate inherited disorders and disease processes

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell generation, stability, and differentiation

• Normal skin cells
• Reverse engineering disease pathways

Tissue engineering using human stem cells

• Bone and cartilage tissues/structures
• Nucleus pulposis in degenerated intervertebral disc
• Neural tissues damaged by spinal cord injuries
• Fabrication of scaffolds and devices for stem cell collection and tissue regeneration

Restoration of damaged tissue/organ function

• Regeneration of pelvic nerve to restore detrusor muscle function in SCIs
• Treatment of retinal degeneration using stem cell therapy
• Cardiovascular injury and repair
• Stem cells for wound healing

Treatment of developmental and age-related degenerative diseases using stem cell therapy

• Leukemia
• Incontinence
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson's disease
• Alzheimer's disease
• Diabetes
• ALS

Drug discovery and development

• miRNA based drugs

Toxicological studies

• Development of the NET (New Embryotoxicity) assay for screening drugs and chemicals
• Mechanisms of DNA damage and repair in SCs

Dr. Chaudhry studies a wide-range of basic and applied biomedical research problems. His research is focused on:

Embryonic Stem Cell (ESCs), Adult Stem cells (ASCs), Perinatal stem cells (PSCs) and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs); cellular development and differentiation; Tissue engineering and regeneration; Biotechnology and toxicology.

1. Collection and characterization of umbilical cord blood stem cells for potential therapeutic uses
2. Intervertebral disc regeneration using cord blood derived stem cells
3. Role of mononuclear cells in repair and regeneration
4. Self-assembling scaffolds for embryonic stem cell (ESC) culture, storage and shipping
5. Stem cell therapy for treatment of macular degeneration
6. Effect of estrogen and progesterone on embryonic cell development and differentiation
7. Potential and feasibility of stem cell therapy for treatment of Parkinson's disease
8. Neural differentiation of stem cells into oligodendrocytes for treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS)
9. Effect of heavy metals on the developmental and differentiation processes 
10. Dopaminergic differentiation of cord blood derived stem cells
11. Differentiation of ESCs into islet cells; potential cell therapy for the treatment of diabetes mellitus
12. Bone and cartilage tissue bioengineering for TMJ reconstruction
13. Stem cells for wound healing
14. Pharmacological and toxicological studies using ESCs as a model for early development and differentiation
15. Human chip for pharmacological and drug development studies
16. Peripheral and cord blood derived HSC propagation for cell therapy
17. Neural mapping of brain and nerve regeneration using ESCs derivatives
18. iPSCs for reverse engineering disease pathways

Brown C, Agosta P, McKee C, Walker K, Mazzella M, Alamri A, Svinarich D, & Chaudhry GR. 2022. Human primitive mesenchymal stem cell-derived retinal progenitor cells improved neuroprotection, neurogenesis, and vision in rd12 mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. Stem cell Res Ther 13, 148 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-022-02828-w

Brown C, McKee C, Halassy S, Kojan S, Feinstein D, Chaudhry GR. 2021. Neural stem cells derived from primitive mesenchymal stem cells reversed disease symptoms and promoted neurogenesis in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model of multiple sclerosis. Stem cell research and Therapy. 12, 499. doi.org/10.1186/s13287-021-02563-8

McKee C, Perez-Cruet M, Chaudhry GR. 2021. A Combinational Approach Using Cell Therapy, Tissue Engineering, and Distracting Device for the Treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease. J Stem Cell Res Dev. 7:064. doi: 10.24966/SRDT-2060/100064.

McKee C, Brown C, Bakshi S, Walker K, Govind C, Chaudhry GR. 2021. Transcriptomic Analysis of Naïve Human Embryonic Stem Cells Cultured in Three-Dimensional PEG Scaffolds. Biomolecules. 11(1): 21.

Nour S, Imani R, Chaudhry GR, Sharifi AM. 2020. Skin wound healing assisted by angiogenic targeted tissue engineering: A comprehensive review of bioengineered approaches. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.37105.

McKee C, Brown C, Chaudhry GR. 2019. Self-assembling scaffolds supported long-term growth of human primed embryonic stem cells and upregulated core and naïve pluripotent markers. Cells. 8(12): 1650.

McKee C, Beeravolu N, Brown C, Perez-Cruet M, Chaudhry GR. 2019. Mesenchymal stem cells transplanted with self-assembling scaffolds differentiated to regenerate nucleus pulposus in an ex vivo model of degenerative disc disease. Applied Materials Today. 100474.

Brown C, Mckee C, Bakshi S, Walker K, Hakman E, Halassy S, Svinarich D, Dodds R, Govind C, Chaudhry GR. 2019. Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Sources, Therapeutic Potential, and Challenges. doi: 10.1002/term.2914.

Bakshi S, Mckee C, Walker K, Brown C, Chaudhry GR. 2018. Toxicity of JQ1 in neuronal derivatives of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell. Oncotarget. 9 (73):33853-33864. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.26127.

McKee C, Beeravolu N, Bakshi S, Thibodeau B, Wilson G, Perez-Cruet M, Chaudhry GR. 2018. Cytotoxicity of radiocontrast dyes in human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. 349: 72-82. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2018.04.032.

Perez-Cruet M, Beeravolu N, McKee C, Brougham J, Khan I, Bakshi S, Chaudhry GR. 2018. Potential of human NP-like cells derived from umbilical cord to treat degenerative disc disease. Neurosurgery. doi: 10.1093/neuros/nyy012.

McKee C, Chaudhry GR. 2017. Advances and challenges in stem cell culture. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 159: 62-77. doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2017.07.051.

McKee C, Yao D, Chaudhry GR. 2017. Chondrogenic differentiation of embryonic stem cells using mechanotransductive 3-D PDMS scaffolds. Stem Cell and Transnational Investigation. 4:e1536. doi: 10.14800/scti.1536.

Beeravolu, N, C. McKee, G.R. Chaudhry. 2017. Mechanism of arsenite toxicity in embryonic stem cells. Journal of Applied Toxicology.  37(10): 1151-1161. doi: 10.1002/jat.3469.

McKee, C, Hong, Y, Yao, D, Chaudhry, GR. 2017. Compression induced chondrogenic differentiation of embryonic stem cells in 3-D PDMS scaffolds. Tissue Engineering Part A. 23(9-10): 426-435. doi: 10.1089/ten.TEA.2016.0376.

Beeravolu N, Brougham J, Khan I, McKee C, Perez-Cruet M, Chaudhry GR. 2017. Human Umbilical Cord Derivatives Regenerate Intervertebral Disc. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. 12(1): 579-591. doi: 10.1002/term.2330.

Beeravolu N, McKee C, Alamri A, Mikhael S, Brown C, Perez-Cruet M, Chaudhry GR. 2017. Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal stem cells from different regions of the human umbilical cord. Journal of Visualized Experiments. (122): e55224. doi: 10.3791/55224.

Mikhael S, Beeravolu N, Chaudhry GR. 2016. Umbilical cord derivatives for intervertebral disc regeneration: advances and challenges. Editorial. Cell and Gene Therapy Insights. 2(6): 629-634. doi: 10.18609/cgti.2016.076.

Beeravolu N, Khan I, McKee C, Dinda S, Thibodeau B, Wilson G, Perez-Cruet M, Bahado-Singh R, Chaudhry GR. 2016. Isolation and comparative analysis of potential stem cells from different regions of human umbilical cord. Stem Cell Research. 16: 696-711. doi: 10.1016/j.scr.2016.04.010.

Alghamdi S, Khan I, Beeravolu N, Mckee C, Thibodeau B, Wilson G, Chaudhry GR. 2016. BET protein inhibitor JQ1 inhibits growth and modulates WNT signaling in mesenchymal stem cells. Stem Cell Research and Therapy. 7:22. doi: 10.1186/s13287-016-0278-3.