Biography

My lab is inventing the future of medicine by developing molecular and cellular bioengineering approaches to block ectopic calcification and promote healing, biocompatibility, tissue regeneration and biomineralization.

My research includes:
Mechanistic studies aimed at developing novel therapeutic targets and innovative approaches for treating ectopic calcification in disease, traumatic injury, and medical devices
Identifying and applying biomimetic strategies to create biointerfaces for soft and hard tissue regeneration
Biomolecular control of the foreign body reaction, with particular emphasis on the macrophage-mediated inflammatory response to biomaterials

Education

• Ph.D., Pharmacology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 1987
• BS, Biochemistry, University of California at Davis, 1982

Previous appointments

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pathology,University of Washington School of Medicine, 1989

Select publications

1. Scialla JJ, Lau WL, Reilly MP, Isakova T, Yang HY, Crouthamel MH, Chavkin NW, Rahman M, Wahl P, Amaral AP, Hamano T, Master SR, Nessel L, Chai B, Xie D, Kallem RR, Chen J, Lash JP, Kusek JW, Budoff MJ, Giachelli CM, Wolf M. Fibroblast growth factor 23 is not associated with and does not induce arterial calcification. Kidney Int. 2013 Feb 6. doi: 10.1038/ki.2013.3. [Epub ahead of print]
2. Thomson KS, Korte FS, Giachelli CM, Ratner BD, Regnier M, Scatena M. Prevascularized microtemplated fibrin scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering applications. Tissue Eng Part A. 2013 Apr;19(7-8):967-77. doi: 10.1089/ten.tea.2012.0286.
3. Lau WL, Linnes M, Chu EY, Foster BL, Bartley BA, Somerman MJ, Giachelli CM. High phosphate feeding promotes mineral and bone abnormalities in mice with chronic kidney disease. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2013 Jan;28(1):62-9.
4. Lau WL, Leaf EM, Hu MC, Takeno MM, Kuro-o M, Moe OW, Giachelli CM. Vitamin D receptor agonists increase klotho and osteopontin while decreasing aortic calcification in mice with chronic kidney disease fed a high phosphate diet.Kidney Int. 2012 Dec;82(12):1261-70.
5. Bryers JD, Giachelli CM, Ratner BD. Engineering biomaterials to integrate and heal: the biocompatibility paradigm shifts. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2012 Aug;109(8):1898-911. doi: 10.1002/bit.24559. Epub 2012 May 24.
6. Lau WL, Leaf EM, Hu MC, Takeno MM, Kuro-O M, Moe OW, Giachelli CM. Vitamin D receptor agonists increase klotho and osteopontin while decreasing aortic calcification in mice with chronic kidney disease fed a high phosphate diet. Kidney Int. 2012 Aug 29. doi: 10.1038/ki.2012.322. [Epub ahead of print]
7. Lau WL, Linnes M, Chu EY, Foster BL, Bartley BA, Somerman MJ, Giachelli CM. High phosphate feeding promotes mineral and bone abnormalities in mice with chronic kidney disease. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2012 Oct 8. [Epub ahead of print]
8. Pai A, Leaf EM, El-Abbadi M, Giachelli CM. Elastin degradation and vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype change precede cell loss and arterial medial calcification in a uremic mouse model of chronic kidney disease. Am J Pathol. 2011 Feb;178(2):764-73.
9. Li X, Speer MY, Yang H, Bergen J, Giachelli CM. Vitamin D receptor activators induce an anticalcific paracrine program in macrophages: requirement of osteopontin. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 30(2):321-6, 2010.
10. Speer MY, Li X, Hiremath PG, and Giachelli CM. Runx2/Cbfa1, but not loss of myocardin, is required for smooth muscle cell lineage reprogramming toward osteochondrogenesis. J Cell Biochem 2010 Jul 1;110(4):935-47.
11. Lund SA, Giachelli CM, Scatena M. The role of osteopontin in inflammatory processes. J Cell Commun Signal. 2:311-322, 2009
12. Festing MH, Speer MY, Yang HY, Giachelli CM.Generation of mouse conditional and null alleles of the type II sodium-dependent phosphate cotransporter PiT-1. Genesis. 47(12):858-63, 2009.
13. Li X, Speer MY, Yang H, Bergen J, Giachelli CM. Vitamin D receptor activators induce an anticalcific paracrine program in macrophages: requirement of osteopontin. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 30(2):321-6, 2010.
14. Lee MM, Chu EY, El-Abbadi MM, Foster BL, Tompkins KA, Giachelli CM, Somerman MJ.Characterization of mandibular bone in a mouse model of chronic kidney disease. J Periodontol. 81(2):300-9, 2010.
15. Osathanon T, Giachelli CM, Somerman MJ. Immobilization of alkaline phosphatase on microporous nanofibrous fibrin scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Biomaterials 30:4513-21, 2009.
16. El-Abbadi MM, Pai AS, Leaf EM, Yang HY, Bartley BA, Quan KK, Ingalls CM, Liao HW, Giachelli CM.. Phosphate feeding induces arterial medial calcification in uremic mice: role of serum phosphorus, fibroblast growth factor-23, and osteopontin.Kidney Int. 75(12):1297-307, 2009.
17. Beckstead BL, Tung JC, Liang KJ, Tavakkol Z, Usui ML, Olerud JE, Giachelli CM. Methods to promote Notch signaling at the biomaterial interface and evaluation in a rafted organ culture model. J Biomed Mater Res A, in press.
18. Speer MY, Yang HY, Look A, Frutkin A, Dichek D, Giachelli CM. Smooth Muscle Cells Give Rise to Osteochondrogenic Precursors and Chondrocytes in Calcifying Arteries, Circulation Research 104(6):733-41, 2009.

Honors & awards

• 2011 Jack W. Coburn Lectureship, Amer. Soc. of Nephrology
• 2003 Advances in Mineral Metabolism Investigator Award
• 1996-2001 American Heart Association Established Investigator Award
• 2011 Elected Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
• 2016, Washington State Academy of Sciences