Treena Livingston Arinzeh’s research focuses on the development of functional biomaterials and tissue engineering strategies for the repair of damaged or diseased tissues. Tissue engineering approaches include the use of stem cells and other cell types in combination with biomaterial scaffolds as a therapeutic strategy and for use as in vitro models to understand the development of normal and diseased tissues. Her most cited work to date has been in the use of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to induce bone formation without the use of immunosuppressive therapy, demonstrating the potential use of MSCs as an off-the-shelf therapy. Recent accomplishments include the development of piezoelectric materials, which are smart materials, processed into fiber structures that mimic both structure and function of ECM matrices. Piezoelectric materials can provide electrical stimulation without the use of external electrodes. Arinzeh has demonstrated feasibility of these materials for bone, cartilage and neural tissue engineering applications. She also develops biomimetic, naturally-derived materials, such as glycosaminoglycan-mimetics, that provide bioactivity and promote tissue repair through growth factor interaction and other mechanisms.

Arinzeh received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University, her M.S.E. in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a project manager at the stem cell technology company, Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. and joined the faculty of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) as one of the founding faculty members of the department of Biomedical Engineering. She served as interim chairperson and graduate director at NJIT and joined the faculty of Columbia University in fall 2022. Arinzeh has been recognized with numerous awards for her research in tissue engineering and biomaterials, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Arinzeh has 15 issued patents and serves on the editorial board of leading scientific journals including Science Advances and Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A. Arinzeh is a co-leader of an Integrated Research Thrust (IRT) and the Director of Diversity of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology (CEMB).