Biomaterials for regenerative medicine: The materials we design and synthesize are composed of engineered proteins created by bacterial hosts.  Using genetic engineering techniques, the exact sequence of the monomers (amino acids) in the engineered proteins can be specified.  By altering the sequence of amino acids, new classes of engineered proteins can be created with tunable mechanical properties, self-assembly features, degradation profiles, and biological interactions. Recent efforts have focused on developing biomaterials with cardiovascular, brain tissue, spinal cord, and stem cell applications.

(Brian Aguado, Cindy Chung, Ji Seok Lee, Widya Mulyasasmita, Andreina Parisi-Amon, Nicole Romano, Debanti Sengupta)

Neural engineering: During development, young neurons sprout several processes (called neurites) that probe their environmental niche. Eventually, one neurite developes into the axon (the portion of the neuron that can transmit electrical and chemical signals) while the remaining neurites beome dendrites. We have designed a protocol to pattern multiple guidance cues on surfaces to guide the development of neurons in vitro to create patterned arrays of neurons with specified polarity. The ability to guide neuronal development on engineered substrates has potential application in bioMEMs circuits, neural networks, biosensors, and scaffolds for tissue engineering of nerve grafts.

(Christina Kratschmer, Brandon Cord - Palmer Group)

Engineered cellular microenvironments: The use of microfluidic devices to study cell chemotaxis has been demonstrated for a number of different cell-culture systems.  However, because current devices require fluid flow through the cell-culture chamber, these devices are not capable of culturing cells that are sensitive to shear stress.  Therefore, we have developed a novel, microfluidic gradient generator that allows the cell-culture chamber to remain static while applying a stable concentration gradient across the chamber. These devices are being used to investigate neuronal polarity and guidance, endothelial cell migration, and stem cell polarity and differentiation.

(Alex Mo, Amir Shamloo)

Nanoscale biomimetic materials: Nature presents us with an amazing variety of exquisite, self-assembling nano-scale architectures. Recently, several methods have been developed to interface biological structures with inorganic materials, using the biological molecules as templates to fabricate nanowires and nanospheres with unprecedented order and regularity. Although several biological systems have been explored as biotemplates, a flexible platform capable of templating a variety of 2D and 3D ordered structures has not yet been developed. Our goal is to engineer a versatile protein biotemplate at the molecular level to create 2D and 3D conducting nanostructures for energy applications.

(Alia Schoen)                Biotemplating Group Website