Samira Musah

Research Themes

Biomaterials, Biomechanics & Mechanobiology, Synthetic & Systems Biology, Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine

Research Interests

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), disease mechanisms, regenerative medicine, molecular and cellular basis of human kidney development and disease, organ engineering, patient-specific disease models, biomarkers, therapeutic discovery, tissue and organ transplantation, microphysiological systems including organs-on-chips and organoids, matrix biology, mechanotransduction, mechanobiology, and disease biophysics.

Bio

The Musah Lab is interested in understanding how molecular signals and biophysical forces can function either synergistically or independently to guide organ development and physiology, and how these processes can be therapeutically harnessed to treat human disease. Given the escalating medical crisis in nephrology as growing number of patients suffer from kidney disease that can lead to organ failure, the Musah Lab focuses on engineering stem cell fate for applications in human kidney disease, extra-renal complications, and therapeutic development. Dr. Musah’s research interests include stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, molecular and cellular basis of human organ development and disease progression, organ engineering, patient-specific disease models, biomarker identification, therapeutic discovery, tissue and organ transplantation, microphysiological systems including Organ Chips (organs-on-chips) and organoids, matrix biology, mechanotransduction and disease biophysics.

Education

• Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2013

Positions

• Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
• Assistant Professor in Cell Biology
• Assistant Professor in Medicine
• Affiliate of the Duke Regeneration Center
• Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Courses Taught

• ME 718S: Biological Engineering Seminar Series (CBIMMS and CBTE)
• ME 717S: Biological Engineering Seminar Series (CBIMMS and CBTE)
• EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
• CELLBIO 493: Research Independent Study
• BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
• BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
• BME 790: Advanced Topics for Graduate Students in Biomedical Engineering
• BME 789: Internship in Biomedical Engineering
• BME 712S: Biological Engineering Seminar Series (CBIMMS and CBTE)
• BME 711S: Biological Engineering Seminar Series (CBIMMS and CBTE)
• BME 644: Physiology for Engineers
• BME 590: Special Topics in Biomedical Engineering
• BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 394: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)

Publications

• Musah S, Arzaghi H. Unleashing the power of biomaterials to enhance organoid differentiation and function. Nature methods. 2024 Sep;21(9):1575–7.
• Musah S, Bhattacharya R, Himmelfarb J. Kidney Disease Modeling with Organoids and Organs-on-Chips. Annual review of biomedical engineering. 2024 Jul;26(1):383–414.
• Barreto AD, Burt MA, Musah S. Advancing drug discovery for glomerulopathies using stem-cell-derived kidney models. Trends in pharmacological sciences. 2023 Apr;44(4):204–7.
• Roye Y, Musah S. Isogenic Kidney Glomerulus Chip Engineered from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE. 2022 Nov;(189).
• Musah S. Uncovering SARS-CoV-2 kidney tropism. Nature reviews Molecular cell biology. 2021 Aug;22(8):509.
• Introductions to the Community: Early-Career Researchers in the Time of COVID-19. Cell stem cell. 2020 Aug;27(2):200–1.
• Burt M, Bhattachaya R, Okafor AE, Musah S. Guided Differentiation of Mature Kidney Podocytes from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Under Chemically Defined Conditions. Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE. 2020 Jul;(161).
• Musah S, Dimitrakakis N, Camacho DM, Church GM, Ingber DE. Directed differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells into mature kidney podocytes and establishment of a Glomerulus Chip. Nature protocols. 2018 Jul;13(7):1662–85.
• Musah S, Mammoto A, Ferrante TC, Jeanty SSF, Hirano-Kobayashi M, Mammoto T, et al. Mature induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-derived human podocytes reconstitute kidney glomerular-capillary-wall function on a chip. Nature biomedical engineering. 2017 Jan;1:0069.
• Benam KH, Dauth S, Hassell B, Herland A, Jain A, Jang K-J, et al. Engineered in vitro disease models. In 2015. p. 195–262.
• Musah S, Wrighton PJ, Zaltsman Y, Zhong X, Zorn S, Parlato MB, et al. Substratum-induced differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells reveals the coactivator YAP is a potent regulator of neuronal specification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2014 Sep;111(38):13805–10.
• Musah S, Morin SA, Wrighton PJ, Zwick DB, Jin S, Kiessling LL. Glycosaminoglycan-binding hydrogels enable mechanical control of human pluripotent stem cell self-renewal. ACS nano. 2012 Nov;6(11):10168–77.
• Musah S, Kiessling LL. Synthetic polymer scaffold supports human embryonic stem cell adhesion and proliferation in defined conditions. In: ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. AMER CHEMICAL SOC; 2012.
• Derda R, Musah S, Orner BP, Klim JR, Li L, Kiessling LL. High-throughput discovery of synthetic surfaces that support proliferation of pluripotent cells. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2010 Feb;132(4):1289–95.
• Kikandi SN, Musah S, Lee K, Hassani J, Rajan S, Zhou A, et al. Comparative studies of quercetin interactions with monophosphate nucleotides using UV-Vis spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. Electroanalysis. 2007 Jan 1;19(19–20):2131–40.
• Musah S, Bhattacharya R, Bonner M. Harnessing developmental plasticity to pattern kidney organoids.
• Musah S. Building an artificial kidney from human stem cells.

In The News

• HHMI Names 50 Gilliam Fellows in Milestone Year (Jul 9, 2024 | HHMI News)
• NIH honors medical scholars’ bold research (Oct 10, 2023 | The Duke Daily)
• Two Duke Scientists Awarded NIH Grants for High-Risk, High-Reward Research (Oct 5, 2023 | Duke University School of Medicine)
• Samira Musah Awarded $1.5 Million in NIH High-Risk, High-Reward Grants (Oct 5, 2023 | Duke University)
• 2023 NIH Director’s New Innovator Awardees (Oct 3, 2023 | NIH)
• NIH to award over $187 million for exceptionally creative biomedical and behavioral research projects (Oct 3, 2023 | NIH)
• A fortuitous collaboration between Duke BME’s Samira Musah and the Duke Human Vaccine Institute’s Maria Blasi helps illuminate why COVID is so adept at attacking kidney cells (Oct 28, 2022 | Duke BME)
• A Dynamic Duo: How ACE-2 And CD147 Mediate Covid-19 Infection In The Kidneys (May 19, 2022 | Forbes)
• Targets for Infection: How SARS-CoV-2 Damages the Kidneys (May 9, 2022 | Forbes)
• COVID-19 Can Infect and Damage Human Kidney Cells (Apr 27, 2022 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• How Covid directly infects, causes damage to human kidney cells (Apr 22, 2022 | National Herald)
• COVID-19 Can Directly Infect and Damage Human Kidney Cells (Apr 21, 2022 | Duke BME)
• Duke biomedical engineers report potential advance in fighting kidney disease (Jan 26, 2022 | TechWire)
• Jessica Shah of Musah Lab selected as Pratt Research Fellow (Jan 3, 2022 | Duke MEDx)
• MEDx investigator, Samira Musah, speaks at UCI Samueli School of Engineering (Dec 6, 2021 | Duke MEDx)
• Adapting to uncertainty: Early-career researchers in the time of COVID-19 (May 6, 2021 | Cell Stem Cell)
• ZAUSCHER TO CHAIR SEARCH COMMITTEE FOR NEW PRATT SCHOOL DEAN (Apr 29, 2021 | Duke Today)
• Uncovering SARS-CoV-2 kidney tropism (Apr 19, 2021 | Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology)
• Unlocking the Mysteries Behind Kidney Disease (Mar 30, 2021 | Duke University)
• Exploring COVID-19’s Impact on the Kidney (Oct 20, 2020 | Duke BME Digital Magazine)
• Introductions to the Community: Early-Career Researchers in the Time of COVID-19 (Aug 6, 2020 | Cell Stem Cell)
• MEDx biomechanics of Injury or Injury Repair Awardees Announced (May 5, 2020 | Duke University)
• 13 Medicine faculty recognized by the School of Medicine (Apr 6, 2020 | Duke University School of Medicine)
• A Community That Writes Together (Mar 20, 2020 | Duke Today)
• Musah Named Among Inspiring Black Scientists in America (Feb 14, 2020 | Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University)
• 100 Inspiring Black Scientists in America (Feb 3, 2020 | Cell Press)
• The Decade Ahead: What’s coming in the Life Sciences? Musah shares predictions. (Jan 9, 2020 | LaunchBio)
• Incubation Awards to Assist Seven Innovative Research Projects Move Toward the Market (Nov 25, 2019 | Innovation and Entrepreneurship)
• The Right Tools for the Job: Model Systems for Glomerular Disease (Nov 7, 2019 | American Society of Nephrology)
• “Talent from All Corners” Event Honors the Contribution of Immigrants to American Science (Nov 6, 2019 | Duke University )
• Stem Cell Research Opening Doors to Precision Medicine for Human Kidney Disease (Jul 16, 2019 | Clinical Practice Today )
• Department selects four investigators for Chair’s Research Award (Apr 9, 2019 | Duke University)
• Musah Wins Keystone Symposia Early Career Investigator Travel Award (Mar 15, 2019 | Duke University)
• Futuristic organ-on-a-chip technology now seems more realistic than ever (Oct 21, 2018 | Salon)
• Samira Musah: Engineering Stem Cell Fate for Applications in Kidney Disease (Aug 13, 2018 | Duke University)
• Kidney Podocytes, All Grown up (Jul 19, 2018 | Science & Technology Research News)
• New Tool for Generating Mature Kidney Podocytes (Jul 16, 2018 | Technology Networks)
• New Protocol Managed to Create Kidney Cells in The Laboratory (Jul 11, 2018 | The Bioscientist)
• Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas Awards New Grants (May 16, 2018 | CPRIT)
• Baxter Honors Recipients of Ninth Annual Young Investigator Awards (Oct 31, 2017 | Baxter)
• Faces of Physics: human organs on a chip (Oct 3, 2017 | Physics World)
• Samira Musah, Ph.D. Discusses the Impact of Mentoring on Her Research (Jun 14, 2017 | NRMN)
• Engineering human stem cells to model the kidney's filtration barrier on a chip (May 10, 2017 | EurekAlert!)