Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Our research team is committed to the field of tissue engineering research with an aim to generate functional tissue constructs for a myriad of biomedical applications. These applications range from regenerative medicine and exploration of healthy and diseased organ states, to drug development and personalized medicine. We are bringing together advanced material science and developmental cell biology to create bioengineered 3D scaffolds. These scaffolds provide an ideal platform for cell attachment, proliferation, and subsequent differentiation into long-term, complex 3D tissues.

Within our laboratory, we are at the forefront of utilizing strategically designed ultrashort self-assembling peptides to build intricate tissue scaffolds that are viable for biomedical applications. Our peptides are compact, and have the ability to self-assemble under physiological conditions into hydrogels with an extracellular matrix-like nanofiber organization. These peptides have demonstrated biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-immunogenicity, and are apt for high-throughput applications. The synthesis process of these peptides can be modulated to adjust the mechanical properties of the scaffold, thus enabling it to closely resemble native tissue characteristics.

Our multidisciplinary team has successfully engineered 3D vascularized bilayer skin models, human- and murine-origin colorectal organoids, 3D cultures of encapsulated human pluripotent stem cells for directed differentiation, 3D culture of vascularized dopaminergic neurons for Parkinson’s disease model, vascularized 3D cultures of patient-derived bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) incorporating patient-derived immune cells for acute-myeloid and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia models, and vascularized 3D scaffolds for osteogenic differentiation of BM-MSC suitable for bone tissue engineering.