CU Denver Creates Lab-Grown Lung Model To Test Treatments More Effectively

University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Chelsea Magin is developing a lung model to help advance the treatment of lung diseases which affect men and women differently.

The lung is made by combining donor cells and tissues with synthetic materials. The result behaves like a real lung—soft when healthy, stiff when sickly—allowing researchers to study diseases like pulmonary fibrosis and cancer more accurately.

This biomedical engineering product makes it possible for Magin and her team from CU Denver and the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus to study lung disease. “We’re not just conducting research,” Magin said. “We’re combining engineering, medicine, and industry to find treatments that work. It’s one of the ways our biomedical engineering program stands out.”

Lung Model Has Big Implications for Personalized Medicine
In the Magin Lab, researchers have found differences at the cellular level which have implications for how different patients should be treated. The lab is also working with a California-based company, which sees the benefit of using the new model to test pharmaceuticals aimed at treating or eliminating lung diseases.

Current methods fall short. Many lab-grown cells are studied on flat, rigid surfaces that don’t reflect how lungs function. Animal testing also has limits. As a result, nearly 90% of drugs that work in the lab fail in human trials.

Magin’s model aims to close that gap.
The team removes cells from donor lung tissue and turns them into a powder. That powder is mixed with water and added to synthetic material to make a hydrogel containing both natural and synthetic parts mixed together. That combination of materials mimic lung properties. Once built, the model can be “diseased” and treated, allowing researchers to observe how therapies perform.

For Magin, the work is personal.
“I lived with undiagnosed asthma for 40 years,” she said. “I know what it’s like to not be able to breathe. That drives this work.”

Training the Next Generation of Biomedical Engineers
This work brings together an all-female team of students and researchers from the CU Denver and CU Anschutz campuses. The dual campus program delivers engineering coursework at the downtown campus and then gives students access to classes and laboratory work on the medical campus.

Haley Noelle Bergman, a PhD student in the lab, came to biomedical engineering after working as an EMT during the COVID-19 pandemic. She always wanted to be a doctor, but working as an EMT helped her discover she wanted to be more involved in long-term care and solutions. That’s where biomedical engineering came into play.

“I don’t want to just practice medicine,” Bergman said. “I want to innovate medicine.”

She now studies idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, alongside fellow CU Denver PhD student Mikala Mueller, using the lung model while preparing for medical school. Her work also includes collaborating with physicians and pharmaceutical partners—experience she says reflects the future of health care.

“Engineering, science, and medicine are all intertwined,” she said. “Complex diseases won’t be solved by one field. This kind of collaboration is essential.”

Bergman said she applied to work in Magin’s lab because of the intersection of material science, pulmonary medicine, cell biology, and engineering. Magin worked in industry for years before becoming an academic.

For Rachel Blomberg, the lab manager who spends her days running experiments and providing mentorship to students, the research in the lab is critical to the future of patient health care.

“It’s really hard to study complex chronic diseases,” she said. “What we are doing in the Magin Lab will help us improve the lives of people suffering from chronic lung disease.”

Magin joined CU Denver | CU Anschutz in 2016 and holds appointments in Biomedical Engineering (primary), Pediatrics, and Medicine. She holds multiple degrees including a bachelor’s degree in material science and engineering and a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the University of Florida. Magin serves on the board of directors for the Colorado Bioscience Institute, serves as a reviewer for several national academic journals, and is on the editorial board for an academic journal. She holds five patents with several others pending. The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, among other groups, have funded her work over the years. She has published more than 30 academic journal articles and has presented internationally about her research. In addition to conducting research, Magin also leads the Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs program at CU Denver.

About The University of Colorado Denver
Millions of moments start at CU Denver, a place where innovation, research, and learning meet in the heart of a global city. We’re the state’s premier public urban research university with more than 100 in-demand, top-ranked bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs. We partner with more than 13,000 diverse learners—at any stage of their life and career—for transformative educational experiences. Across seven schools and colleges, our leading faculty inspires and works alongside students to solve complex challenges and produce impactful creative work. As part of the state’s largest university system, CU Denver is a major contributor to the Colorado economy, with 2,000 employees and an annual economic impact of $665M. For more information, visit ucdenver.edu.