Dr. Ge completed her MD in 2018 at Washington University in St. Louis. She then completed her surgical residency at Stanford University, where is now a K12 Scholar. Her project is titled “Chitosan-Induced Exfoliation and Regeneration as a Tunable Model for Urothelial Repair.”
Impaired urothelial regeneration contributes to the chronicity of benign urologic conditions such as recurrent urinary tract infections, interstitial cystitis, and radiation cystitis. Existing models of bladder injury often induce nonspecific inflammatory damageand lack the tunability needed to study chronic or low-grade injury. Chitosan, a biocompatible polysaccharide, can induce controlled, non-inflammatory exfoliation of the urothelium followed by rapid regeneration. However, its mechanisms of action remain poorly understood, and its molecular heterogeneity limits reproducibility. This project aims to systematically characterize the formulation-specific effects of chitosan on the urothelium and assess its dual utility as both a model system for studying bladder injury and repair, and as a therapeutic to enhance regeneration. By establishing a tunable, reproducible platform, this work will enable deeper insights into urothelial biology and repair mechanisms. Ultimately, chitosan may serve as a novel strategy to promote urothelial healing and interrupt cycles of chronic injury in benign urologic disease.