WORCESTER, Mass.—A new three-year research project at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is aiming to give scientists a clearer view of uterine fibroids by recreating key features of the uterine environment in the laboratory. Led by biomedical engineer Catherine Whittington, the project will develop two miniature tissue models designed to show how fibroid cells respond to stiffness, inflammation, hormones, fat-derived signals, and potential drug treatments. The work is supported by a $555,371 award from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health program that expands research opportunities for undergraduate students. Before the grant was awarded, students in Whittington’s laboratory had already completed much of the groundwork needed to launch the project.
Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that develop in the muscular wall of the uterus and are among the most common reproductive health conditions. Estimates suggest that 70% to 80% of women will develop fibroids by age 50, although many will have no symptoms. In others, the tumors can cause heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain, pressure, anemia, and complications related to fertility or pregnancy. Fibroids are not cancer, but their effects can be severe and persistent. Treatments may include medication, minimally invasive procedures, or surgery, and hysterectomy remains the only definitive cure. Researchers still do not fully understand why fibroids form, why they grow differently from one person to another, or why they sometimes return after treatment.
Whittington’s project addresses those questions by focusing on the physical and chemical environment surrounding fibroid cells. Fibroids are associated with altered tissue architecture, inflammation, hormonal signaling, and changes in the extracellular matrix—the network of proteins and other molecules that provides structural support to cells. As this matrix becomes stiffer, it may change how cells communicate and how molecules move through tissue. Such changes could affect the way fibroid cells receive signals from hormones or neighboring cells, while also influencing whether therapeutic compounds can reach their intended targets. Conventional laboratory cultures often grow cells on flat, rigid plastic surfaces, conditions that fail to reproduce the three-dimensional structure and mechanical properties of living tissue.
The first model will place a single, very small fibroid sphere inside a precisely engineered gel. The gel will be designed to mimic aspects of the uterus, including its stiffness and microscopic architecture. Each gel containing a fibroid spheroid will be positioned in a small well on a laboratory plate, allowing researchers to test many samples under controlled conditions. The team will introduce molecules of different sizes into the model and track how rapidly and how far they travel through the gel and around the fibroid. Particular attention will be given to larger molecules comparable in size to therapeutic drugs. Measuring this transport could help reveal whether a dense or stiff tissue environment limits access to fibroid cells and could provide a way to compare potential treatment strategies.
This type of system is technically important because drug activity depends on more than whether a compound can kill or inhibit cells in a dish. A treatment must also move through the surrounding tissue, encounter the relevant cell populations, and trigger the appropriate molecular response. In fibroids, abnormal matrix organization may create physical barriers or alter the pathways that carry signals between cells. By changing the composition and stiffness of the gel, Whittington’s team will be able to examine how these variables influence diffusion and cellular behavior. The model builds on a 2024–25 undergraduate capstone project and is intended to provide a rapid, reproducible platform for studying fibroid biology under multiple experimental conditions.
The second model will recreate a more complex interaction between fibroid tissue and uterine muscle. Researchers will form small rings of uterine muscle tissue in laboratory wells and seed them with tiny fibroid spheroids. These engineered structures will then be exposed to hormones, molecules released by fat-derived cells, and therapeutic compounds. The design reflects the biological reality that fibroids do not develop in isolation. They exist within uterine tissue and respond to systemic signals, including hormones, as well as to local cues associated with inflammation and metabolism. Fat tissue can release signaling molecules that influence inflammation and cell growth, making obesity-related pathways an important area of investigation.
The muscle-ring model originated from a two-year research effort involving Isabella Palit, who graduated from the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science at WPI in 2024, and undergraduate students who completed a capstone project in 2025. Kiran Tremblay, a doctoral student, has worked on the project since 2025. Their contributions included conducting experiments, reproducing findings, and applying statistical analysis—steps that Whittington says established a rigorous foundation for the new grant. The project illustrates how undergraduate research can contribute directly to biomedical discovery rather than serving only as classroom training. Whittington expects to sponsor additional capstone teams and hire undergraduate and graduate researchers during the three-year project.
The models will also extend Whittington’s broader work in three-dimensional, tissue-engineered biomaterials for diseases involving fibrosis, in which tissue becomes abnormally thickened and scar-like. Fibrosis can alter the behavior of cells and restrict the movement of signals and drugs, making it a common feature of difficult-to-treat diseases. Whittington received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2025 to develop models of fibrosis in the pancreas, skin, and uterus. Her laboratory has also received support from the National Cancer Institute, Genentech, and the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. By adapting engineering principles to reproductive disease, the new project could help connect mechanical biology—the study of how physical forces affect cells—with drug development and women’s health research.
The researchers are not presenting the laboratory systems as immediate replacements for clinical studies, but as tools that can make early investigation faster, more controlled, and more informative. A model that combines human-derived cells or tissues with tunable materials may allow scientists to test how hormones, inflammatory factors, tissue stiffness, and candidate therapies interact before moving to more complex experiments. Over time, such platforms could help identify why some fibroids respond to treatment while others persist, clarify how the surrounding tissue contributes to disease progression, and support the development of therapies that do not require removal of the uterus. The project’s central message is both scientific and educational: understanding a widespread disease may depend on combining advanced biomaterials research with the sustained contributions of student investigators.
Subject of Research: Laboratory models for uterine fibroids, tissue stiffness, fibrosis, drug transport, and biomedical engineering
Article Title: Student-Built Laboratory Models Aim to Reveal How Uterine Fibroids Grow and Respond to Treatment
News Publication Date: August 17, 2026
Web References:
https://www.wpi.edu/people/faculty/cfwhittington
https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Research/mechanisms/Pages/AREA
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/uterine-fibroids/symptoms-causes/syc-20354288
https://digital.wpi.edu/show/gx41mp06s
https://digital.wpi.edu/show/0v838510m
https://www.wpi.edu/news/wpi-researcher-receives-career-award-project-focused-fibrosis
https://www.wpi.edu/news/catherine-whittington-steps-tissue-engineering-research-three-new-grants
References: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, award R15HD122160
Image Credits: Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Catherine Whittington
Keywords: Uterine fibroids, reproductive health, biomedical engineering, tissue engineering, fibrosis, laboratory models, drug delivery, uterine tissue, cell biology, extracellular matrix, undergraduate research, WPI, women’s health
