Biography
Dr. Kayla Wolf is a visiting assistant professor in biomedical engineering at the Meinig School. She is currently an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Jennifer Lewis's laboratory at Harvard University, where she has developed a stem cell-derived perfusable kidney collecting duct on-chip that can be used for disease modeling or embedded within biomanufactured tissue. She received her Ph.D. in bioengineering from the joint program at University of California, Berkeley - University of California, San Francisco. During her graduate studies, she investigated how tumor cell-matrix interactions influence cell invasion and could therefore be leveraged as therapeutic targets. Dr. Wolf is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Predoctoral Fellow (F31), and Siebel Fellow. Prior to her PhD, she earned a B.S. in chemistry and a B.S. in human biology from Michigan State University. She joins the Meinig School in Ithaca as an assistant professor on January 1, 2025.
Research Interests
The Wolf laboratory at Cornell will address clinical needs in kidney and women's reproductive health by developing models of urogenital tract tissues and investigating biophysical forces that direct tissue function, involving the following research areas:
Teaching Interests
- Biomechanics and Mechanobiology
- Biomaterials
- Polymers and Soft Matter
Selected Publications
- Wolf KJ & Weiss JD, Uzel SGM, Skylar-Scott MA, Lewis JA. Biomanufacturing human tissues via organ building blocks. Cell Stem Cell. 2022; 29, 5, 667-677.
- Wolf KJ, Shukla P, Springer K, Lee S, Coombes JD, Choy CJ, Kenny SJ, Xu K, Kumar S. A mode of cell adhesion and migration facilitated by CD44-dependent microtentacles. PNAS. 2020; 117(12): 11432-11443.
- Wolf KJ, Chen J, Coombes JD, Aghi MK, Kumar S. Dissecting and rebuilding the glioblastoma microenvironment with engineered materials. Nat Rev Mater. 2019; 4: 651-668.
- Wolf KJ, Kumar S. Hyaluronic Acid: Incorporating the Bio into the Material. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2019; 5(8): 3753-3765.
- Wolf KJ, Lee S, Kumar S. A 3D Topographical Model of Parenchymal Infiltration and Perivascular Invasion in Glioblastoma. APL Bioeng. 2018; 2: 031903.
Selected Awards and Honors
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (NIH F32)
- Siebel Scholarship
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (NIH F31)
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP)
- Athena Award, Next Generation Empowerment from Women in Technology
Education
- B.S. (chemistry) and B.S. (human biology), Michigan State University, 2014
- Ph.D. (bioengineering), joint program at University of California Berkeley – University of California San Francisco, 2020
- Postdoc (bioengineering), Harvard University, 2024