The need for multi-scale technologies and multi-disciplinary research is an emerging paradigm in the understanding and engineering of the human tissue/organ system for regenerative medicine. For instance, cell and extracellular matrix interact via integrin binding at nanoscale while 3D culture is obtained by assembling cells and scaffold at microscale or mesoscale. Integration of these multiscale procedures is important for achieving the construction of functional tissues and organs that are appropriate for clinical use.

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Our long-term research goals include the following:

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• Decipher the role of cell-extracellular matrix interaction in tissue regeneration and stem cell differentiation

• Develop novel biomaterials and multiscale technologies to precisely control micro and macro-environment for tissue engineering

• Develop microphysiological model for drug screening and disease modeling

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The following are the on-going projects in our lab:

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1. Multiscale Liver Tissue Engineering

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Based on our developed microfluidics-based double emulsion platform, we are engineering 3D liver microtissues from various stem cell sources (e.g. iPSC, MSC) with long-term function for treating liver diseases and constructing complex, functional, and implantable liver tissue. (Sci Rep 2013, Small 2016, Nanoscale 2017)

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2. Mechanical Folding Guided Tissue Formation

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We have developed a bilayer folded hydrogel scaffold to study the morphogenesis of tissue folding, and apply the biomechanical knowledge acquired to engineer tissue/organ such as intestine and stomach for regenerative medicine. (Advanced Materials 2013, 2015, PNAS 2018, Nature Communications 2019)

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