Marley Dewey

Biography

Dr. Marley Dewey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Marley’s research at UCSB focuses on the investigation of the combination of biomaterials and extracellular vesicles for skeletal disease and repair. Marley completed her B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Maine in 2012. She went on to earn her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In her graduate years, she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Brendan Harley. In his lab, she modified the mechanical, immunological, osteogenic, and antimicrobial properties of mineralized collagen scaffolds for enhanced repair of large-scale craniomaxillofacial bone defects. She also became highly decorated as she won various image research contests, was awarded the Annual Innovation Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis, and studied as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (NSF-GRFP). Afterward, she went on to complete her postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Badylak at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. As a Postdoc, Dr. Dewey was awarded an NIH TL1 Clinical and Translational Science Fellowship for the use of a new class of extracellular vesicle (matrix-bound nanovesicles) for optic nerve repair.

Research

The Dewey Lab engineers biomaterials with extracellular vesicles towards skeletal repair. Specifically, we examine a new class of extracellular vesicle residing in the extracellular matrix, termed matrix-bound nanovesicles. Using these tools we answer basic science questions and create translational therapies related to bone cancer, improving bone repair, preventing bone infection, and repairing coral reefs.