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SUMMARY:IMX Talks - Protein-Based Biomaterials with Controlled Morphology 
 for Tissue Engineering
DTSTART:20250203T110000
DTEND:20250203T120000
DTSTAMP:20260921T172132Z
UID:3c3da844113236850f731a58d7d0031ec9594c0e4a50c03d828b9c2f
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Fotios Christakopoulos\, Stanford\, USA\nPolymeric biomate
 rials are increasingly being used as extracellular matrix (ECM) mimics to 
 grow cells into functional tissue. While initial approaches involved amorp
 hous hydrogels\, there is increased interest more research is focusing on 
 morphological cues as these better imitate the natural ECM. The presentati
 on will cover my work on (1) controlling the microstructure of hydrogels c
 onsisting of natural proteins and (2) introducing conductivity through rec
 ombinant fibrous proteins. Collagen is a fibrous protein and a major compo
 nent of the ECM with excellent cell-instructive properties and biocompatib
 ility. Using 3D bioprinting we fabricate collagen hydrogels with tunable p
 orosity and with control over the collagen fiber orientation by adjusting 
 the processing parameters. The effect of the different morphologies is eva
 luated with human corneal mesenchymal stem cells. However\, a drawback of 
 using natural proteins\, such as collagen\, is high batch-to-batch variabi
 lity with an alternate approach overcoming this challenge being recombinan
 t proteins. Our group has previously demonstrated a library of recombinant
  bio-macromolecular hydrogels\, combining a chemically modified hyaluroni
 c acid with a modified elastin-like protein. Here\, I will present an app
 roach introduce conductivity as a tunable parameter in these hydrogels. Ma
 ny cells are known to respond to electrically conductive materials. Howeve
 r\, to date electrical conductivity is mostly achieved through synthetic p
 olymers and carbon materials\, resulting into limited translational utilit
 y. This is due to their lack of biodegradability and injectability. To ove
 rcome this challenge\, we have used recombinant engineered conductive prot
 ein nanowires. The resulting hydrogel is injectable and biodegradable and 
 is found to promote neuronal maturation of human induced pluripotent stem 
 cell-derived neural progenitor cells with the potential to be used in a ce
 ll-based therapy for spinal cord injury.\n\nBio: Fotis is a postdoctoral r
 esearcher at Stanford University studying protein-based materials for tiss
 ue engineering under the direction of Prof. Sarah Heilshorn. He received h
 is PhD in Materials Science from ETH Zurich\, his M.Sc. in Medical Enginee
 ring from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology\, and his B.Sc. in Chemica
 l Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. His doctor
 al thesis work centered on polymer technology and the understanding of re-
 entanglement kinetics and development of processing pathways of initially 
 low-entangled ultra-high molecular weight polymers. He joined Stanford in 
 2023 as a Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility fellow\, wher
 e he has been working on controlling the microstructure of collagen-based 
 materials through processing parameters and developing a protein-based con
 ductive hydrogel for neural applications.
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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