David R. Maestas

I am a biomedical engineer and NHLBI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award recipient whose research focused on the synergy between regenerative medicine, immunoengineering, biomechanics, and biomaterials. My work investigates how immune, stromal, and mechanical signals interact to determine whether injured or engineered tissues progress toward functional regeneration, maladaptive remodeling, or fibrosis.

My current research uses tissue-engineered vascular grafts as a model system to study these processes, with particular emphasis on how inflammatory environments alter extracellular matrix remodeling, cellular phenotype, and tissue mechanics. I integrate engineered biomaterials, ex vivo tissue culture, longitudinal multiphoton imaging, quantitative image analysis, molecular assays, and biomechanical characterization to follow remodeling across time rather than relying solely on endpoint measurements.

My long-term research program aims to identify controllable biological and biomechanical state regulators that govern tissue fate and use those mechanisms to design therapies and biomaterials that promote durable, functional regeneration following injury and disease.

  • Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 2016 - 2022
  • Bachelor of Science, The University of Arizona, 2013 - 2016
  • Associate of Science, Pima Community College, 2012

  • Maestas, D.R., Murphy, T.R., Martinet, K.M., Moyston, T., Min, L.X., Behrangzade, A., Pemberton, B.J., Joy, J., Ye, S.H., Hussey, G.S., Azhar, M., Wagner, W.R., & Geest, J.P.V. (2026). Resolving differential vascular graft remodeling using longitudinal multiphoton tracking in a 3D culture platform. In bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.02.28.708759.
  • Maestas, D.R., Murphy, T.R., Martinet, K.M., Moyston, T., Min, L.X., Behrangzade, A., Pemberton, B.J., Joy, J., Ye, S.H., Hussey, G.S., Azhar, M., Wagner, W.R., & Vande Geest, J.P. (2026). Resolving differential vascular graft remodeling using longitudinal multiphoton tracking in a 3D culture platform. Mater Today Bio, 40, 103626.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2026.103626.
  • Martinet, K.M., Maestas, D.R., Min, L.X., Gholami, R., Kohyama, K., Avila, J.L., Ye, S.H., Kim, K., Wagner, W.R., & Vande Geest, J.P. (2026). Long-term remodeling of compliance matched tissue engineered vascular grafts is sex specific. Acta Biomater, 219, 341-355.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2026.06.042.
  • Mejías, J.C., Krishnan, K., Ruta, A., Ramanujam, A.S., Gray-Gaillard, E.F., Huyer, L.D., Maestas, D.R., Nagaraj, S., Yu, F.H., Rindone, A.N., Abraham, P., Browne, M., Fertig, E.J., Pardoll, D.M., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2026). Regulatory T cells clonally expand and contribute to stromal cell function in fibrotic response to synthetic implants. In bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.01.05.697727.
  • Ruta, A., Gray-Gaillard, E.F., Garcia, J.A., Davenport Huyer, L., Mathkour, Y., Cherry, C., Patatanian, M., Mejías, J.C., Maestas, D.R., Krishnan, K., Abraham, P., Wolf, M.T., Smith, K.N., Pardoll, D.M., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2026). Tissue Injury and Biomaterial Treatment Modulate Tumor Growth and Response to Immunotherapy. In bioRxiv. doi: 10.64898/2026.02.02.703323.
  • Ruta, A., Krishnan, K., Woo, J., Mejías, J.C., Gray-Gaillard, E.F., Maestas, D.R., Nguyen, H.H., Rindone, A.N., Cherry, C., Patatanian, M., Yu, F.H., Yang, B., Amelung, C., King, C.D., Schilling, B., Gerecht, S., Fertig, E.J., Davenport Huyer, L., Pardoll, D.M., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2026). γδ T cell-stromal networks modulate matrix composition and vascularity in foreign body response. Nat Commun, 17(1).Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-71540-7.
  • Hooks, J.S.T., Yang, B., Maestas, D.R., Andorko, J.I., Ruta, A., Mejias, J.C., Kelly, S.H., Hee, C.K., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2025). Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses to Clinical Hyaluronic Acid Fillers. J Cosmet Dermatol, 24(7), e70292.Wiley. doi: 10.1111/jocd.70292.
  • Yang, B., Rutkowski, N., Ruta, A., Gray-Gaillard, E., Maestas, D.R., Kelly, S.H., Krishnan, K., Wu, X., Wu, S., Chen, A., Mejías, J.C., Hooks, J.S.T., Vanderzee, I., Mensah, P., Celik, N., Eric, M., Abraham, P., Tam, A., Housseau, F., Pardoll, D.M., Sears, C.L., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2025). Murine gut microbiota dysbiosis via enteric infection modulates the foreign body response to a distal biomaterial implant. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 122(20), e2422169122.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2422169122.
  • Behrangzade, A., Ye, S.H., Maestas, D.R., Wagner, W.R., & Vande Geest, J.P. (2024). Improving the hemocompatibility of a porohyperelastic layered vascular graft using luminal reversal microflows. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater, 157, 106638.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2024.106638.
  • Han, J., Cherry, C., Mejías, J.C., Krishnan, K., Ruta, A., Maestas, D.R., Peña, A.N., Nguyen, H.H., Nagaraj, S., Yang, B., Gray-Gaillard, E.F., Rutkowski, N., Browne, M., Tam, A.J., Fertig, E.J., Housseau, F., Ganguly, S., Moore, E.M., Pardoll, D.M., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2024). Age-associated Senescent - T Cell Signaling Promotes Type 3 Immunity that Inhibits the Biomaterial Regenerative Response. Adv Mater, 36(43), e2310476.Wiley. doi: 10.1002/adma.202310476.
  • Maestas, D.R., Chung, L., Han, J., Wang, X., Sommerfeld, S.D., Kelly, S.H., Moore, E., Nguyen, H.H., Mejías, J.C., Peña, A.N., Zhang, H., Hooks, J.S.T., Chin, A.F., Andorko, J.I., Berlinicke, C.A., Krishnan, K., Choi, Y., Anderson, A.E., Mahatme, R., Mejia, C., Eric, M., Woo, J., Ganguly, S., Zack, D.J., Zhao, L., Pearce, E.J., Housseau, F., Pardoll, D.M., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2023). Helminth egg derivatives as proregenerative immunotherapies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 120(8), e2211703120.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2211703120.
  • Sommerfeld, S.D., Zhou, X., Mejías, J.C., Oh, B.C., Maestas, D.R., Furtmüller, G.J., Laffont, P.A., Elisseeff, J.H., & Brandacher, G. (2023). Biomaterials-based immunomodulation enhances survival of murine vascularized composite allografts. Biomater Sci, 11(11), 4022-4031.Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). doi: 10.1039/d2bm01845d.
  • Yang, H., Ulge, U.Y., Quijano-Rubio, A., Bernstein, Z.J., Maestas, D.R., Chun, J.H., Wang, W., Lin, J.X., Jude, K.M., Singh, S., Orcutt-Jahns, B.T., Li, P., Mou, J., Chung, L., Kuo, Y.H., Ali, Y.H., Meyer, A.S., Grayson, W.L., Heller, N.M., Garcia, K.C., Leonard, W.J., Silva, D.A., Elisseeff, J.H., Baker, D., & Spangler, J.B. (2023). Design of cell-type-specific hyperstable IL-4 mimetics via modular de novo scaffolds. Nat Chem Biol, 19(9), 1127-1137.Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41589-023-01313-6.
  • Anderson, A.E., Wu, I., Parrillo, A.J., Wolf, M.T., Maestas, D.R., Graham, I., Tam, A.J., Payne, R.M., Aston, J., Cooney, C.M., Byrne, P., Cooney, D.S., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2022). An immunologically active, adipose-derived extracellular matrix biomaterial for soft tissue reconstruction: concept to clinical trial. NPJ Regen Med, 7(1), 6.Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41536-021-00197-1.
  • Cherry, C., Maestas, D.R., Han, J., Andorko, J.I., Cahan, P., Fertig, E.J., Garmire, L.X., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2021). Computational reconstruction of the signalling networks surrounding implanted biomaterials from single-cell transcriptomics. Nat Biomed Eng, 5(10), 1228-1238.Springer Nature. doi: 10.1038/s41551-021-00770-5.
  • Moore, E.M., Maestas, D.R., Cherry, C.C., Garcia, J.A., Comeau, H.Y., Davenport Huyer, L., Kelly, S.H., Peña, A.N., Blosser, R.L., Rosson, G.D., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2021). Biomaterials direct functional B cell response in a material-specific manner. Sci Adv, 7(49), eabj5830.American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abj5830.
  • Moore, E.M., Maestas, D.R., Comeau, H.Y., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2021). The Immune System and Its Contribution to Variability in Regenerative Medicine. Tissue Eng Part B Rev, 27(1), 39-47.SAGE Publications. doi: 10.1089/ten.TEB.2019.0335.
  • Wang, X., Chung, L., Hooks, J., Maestas, D.R., Lebid, A., Andorko, J.I., Huleihel, L., Chin, A.F., Wolf, M., Remlinger, N.T., Stepp, M.A., Housseau, F., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2021). Type 2 immunity induced by bladder extracellular matrix enhances corneal wound healing. Sci Adv, 7(16).American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abe2635.
  • Cherry, C., Maestas, D.R., Han, J., Andorko, J.I., Cahan, P., Fertig, E.J., Garmire, L.X., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2020). Intercellular signaling dynamics from a single cell atlas of the biomaterials response. In bioRxiv. doi: 10.1101/2020.07.24.218537.
  • Chung, L., Maestas, D.R., Lebid, A., Mageau, A., Rosson, G.D., Wu, X., Wolf, M.T., Tam, A.J., Vanderzee, I., Wang, X., Andorko, J.I., Zhang, H., Narain, R., Sadtler, K., Fan, H., Čiháková, D., Le Saux, C.J., Housseau, F., Pardoll, D.M., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2020). Interleukin 17 and senescent cells regulate the foreign body response to synthetic material implants in mice and humans. Sci Transl Med, 12(539).American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aax3799.
  • Faust, H.J., Zhang, H., Han, J., Wolf, M.T., Jeon, O.H., Sadtler, K., Peña, A.N., Chung, L., Maestas, D.R., Tam, A.J., Pardoll, D.M., Campisi, J., Housseau, F., Zhou, D., Bingham, C.O., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2020). IL-17 and immunologically induced senescence regulate response to injury in osteoarthritis. J Clin Invest, 130(10), 5493-5507.American Society for Clinical Investigation. doi: 10.1172/JCI134091.
  • Ardila, D.C., Liou, J.J., Maestas, D., Slepian, M.J., Badowski, M., Wagner, W.R., Harris, D., & Vande Geest, J.P. (2019). Surface Modification of Electrospun Scaffolds for Endothelialization of Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts Using Human Cord Blood-Derived Endothelial Cells. J Clin Med, 8(2).MDPI. doi: 10.3390/jcm8020185.
  • Sommerfeld, S.D., Cherry, C., Schwab, R.M., Chung, L., Maestas, D.R., Laffont, P., Stein, J.E., Tam, A., Ganguly, S., Housseau, F., Taube, J.M., Pardoll, D.M., Cahan, P., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2019). Interleukin-36γ-producing macrophages drive IL-17-mediated fibrosis. Sci Immunol, 4(40).American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aax4783.
  • Chung, L., Maestas, D.R., Housseau, F., & Elisseeff, J.H. (2017). Key players in the immune response to biomaterial scaffolds for regenerative medicine. Adv Drug Deliv Rev, 114, 184-192.Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2017.07.006.
  • Haskett, D.G., Maestas, D., Howerton, S.J., Smith, T., Ardila, D.C., Doetschman, T., Utzinger, U., McGrath, D., McIntyre, J.O., & Vande Geest, J.P. (2016). 2-Photon Characterization of Optical Proteolytic Beacons for Imaging Changes in Matrix-Metalloprotease Activity in a Mouse Model of Aneurysm. Microsc Microanal, 22(2), 349-360.Oxford University Press (OUP). doi: 10.1017/S1431927616000088.
Research Interests
Regenerative medicine (incl. stem cells) Tissue engineering Immunology Biomechanical engineering Biomechanics Mechanobiology Biomaterials Cell development, proliferation and death Biochemistry and cell biology Artificial intelligence