(80c) Unconventional Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

The regeneration of tissues damaged by disease, trauma, degeneration, or aging remains a significant unmet medical need. Although surgical replacement offers a potential solution, its broader application is limited by the shortage of donor tissues. This demonstrates the critical demand for designing effective tissue replacements. My work at the intersection of biomaterials and regenerative medicine aims to address this need by advancing engineered biomaterial platforms through a multidisciplinary research approach. Leveraging methodologies from chemistry, cell biology, materials science, engineering, and medicine, my research focuses on developing functional biomaterials using unconventional strategies to generate tissue-mimetic systems with clinical relevance. We have established various biomaterial platforms, including multicellular and compartmentalized scaffolds for regenerative engineering, hydrogel-based systems for personalized medicine, and bioactive scaffolds for template-guided biomineralization. Our work also includes oxygen-generating materials for tissue repair, micro- and nanoparticle-reinforced hydrogels, origami-inspired designs for bone tissue engineering, and hydrogel-based strategies for stem cell delivery. I will also highlight my lab’s expertise in point-of-care (POC) diagnostic platforms for the detection of pathogenic diseases, different health conditions, forensic applications, and environmental testing. To overcome the limitations of conventional diagnostics, we focus on developing rapid, portable, and reliable POC technologies. Overall, my lab’s research covers a range of applications from exploring fundamental biological processes and building disease models for personalized medicine to advancing tissue repair, regeneration, and rapid diagnostics. The overarching goal of our work is to improve human health and quality of life.