(6jm) 3D Bio-Printed Models of Vascularized Tissues

My overarching research goals are to develop biofabrication technologies for creating full-size vascularized tissues/organs and to understand the interactions between vasculatures and surrounding cells during vessel formation and maturation process within dense tissues/organs. I have a wide variety of diverse experiences that have prepared me for this path. My research experiences include the design/development of bioprinting equipment and bioractors, vascular engineering, vascularized 3D tissue engineering, and cancer study model development. During my PhD, I developed 3D bioprinting systems, designed bioreactors, and established protocols to create various-sized functional vessels within thick tissue models. My postdoctoral work has focused on creating 3D in vitro models of brain tumor-vascular niche and utilizing the models for drug test and personalized therapy applications. I have also developed numerous professional skills including how to set up a new laboratory, craft grant proposals, establish and maintain collaboration projects, and manage research and personnel budgets. I believe I will be uniquely suited to pursue my research goals to solve challenges for large tissue engineering and study vascular biology within full-size tissues/organs.

Proposed Research Overview: Engineering full-size functional tissues and organs have a promise for patients on the organ transplant waiting list and scientist who want to test their theories on in vitro model systems. One of the major issues in creating full-size large tissues and organs is the lack of a vascular system that can provide a sufficient blood circulation throughout the engineered tissue/organ structures. A number of technologies have been developed to fabricate a vascular system within engineered tissues and organs, however, providing a physiologically-relevant vascular system that contains various-sized branching blood vessels with efficient circulation and maintaining the structural and functional integrity during the maturation of large and dense tissues/ organs still remain as major challenges. I will lead a multidisciplinary research group to understand vascularization processes in tissue-specific conditions and to exploit the knowledge and develop technologies for full-size vascularized tissue/organ engineering. Success in these aims may ultimately transform our understanding of vascular formation processes in tissue/organ-specific conditions, will provide customizable in vitro tissue/organ models to reveal new therapeutic solutions, and will broadly enable the scientific community with powerful tissue/organ engineering methodologies.

Teaching Interests:

My goal is to help students developing themselves as curious problem solvers who are capable of working with diverse teams. My teaching philosophy has been built on my experience as a scientist, as an engineer, as a colleague, and as a member of collaborative interdisciplinary teams. “Be curious and critical for science” and “Be positive and active for people” are two most critical values that I wish to cultivate in my classroom and mentoring sessions.