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SUMMARY:IMX Colloquium - Interactive and anisometric colloidal building bl
 ocks for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering
DTSTART:20260316T131500
DTEND:20260316T141500
DTSTAMP:20260416T071233Z
UID:3bbb429bb9d1534852f3974f369041b1323614064b5900c154e62954
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof. Laura de Laporte\, RWTH Aachen\, Germany\nInteractive a
 nd anisometric colloidal building blocks for regenerative medicine and tis
 sue engineering\nWe apply polymeric molecular and micron-scale building bl
 ocks to assemble into soft 3D biomaterials with anisotropic and dynamic pr
 operties. We focus on injectable materials that can be pipetted using auto
 mated systems\, bioprinted or delivered in vivo in a low invasive manner. 
 Spherical and rod-shaped microgels and fibers are produced by microfluidic
 s\, in-mold polymerization\, and fiber spinning. To arrange the building b
 locks in a spatially controlled manner\, self-assembly mechanisms and alig
 nment by magnetic fields are employed. Reactive and/or bioactive spherical
  and rod-shaped microgels interlink and form macroporous constructs facili
 tating 3D cell growth and cell-cell interactions or cells are able to use 
 microgels as bricks to build their own house. Chemically defined poly(ethy
 lene glycol)-based microgels\, produced via parallelized step-emulsificati
 on microfluidics\, self-organize with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC
 s) into 3D constructs by robust cell-material interactions. The iPSCs expa
 nd and retain their pluripotency\, after which they can be differentiated 
 into the three germ layers\, providing a suitable platform for organoid di
 fferentiation\, which was exemplary demonstrated for cardiac organoids. Th
 is new organoid production technology enables iPSC expansion and different
 iation in the same construct in a reproducible and scalable manner\, compa
 tible with high-throughput automation. On the other hand\, magneto-respons
 ive rod-shaped microgels form the core of the patented Anisogel technology
 \, which offers a low-invasive therapy to regenerate sensitive tissues wit
 h an oriented architecture. It can be injected and structured in situ to g
 uide cells in a linear manner. Finally\, a thermoresponsive hydrogel syste
 m\, encapsulated with plasmonic gold-nanorods\, actuates by oscillating li
 ght and elucidates how rapid hydrogel beating affects cell migration\, foc
 al adhesions\, extracellular matrix production\, and nuclear translocation
  of mechanosensitive proteins\, depending on the amplitude and frequency o
 f actuation. The time spent in the in vitro gym seems to affect myoblast d
 ifferentiation and fibrosis\, while actuation seems to induce mesenchymal 
 stem cell differentiation into bone cells.\n\nBio: Laura De Laporte combi
 nes engineering\, chemistry and biology to design biomaterials that contro
 l and direct the interaction with cells. She is a Chemical Engineer from G
 hent\, where she got the tissue engineering microbe. To follow her dream\,
  she did her PhD with Lonnie Shea at Northwestern University and engineere
 d guiding implants for nerve regeneration. At EPFL\, she learned about hyd
 rogels in Jeffrey Hubbell’s group during her post-doctoral research. Sin
 ce 2018\, she is a Leibniz Professor at the RWTH University in Aachen\, Ge
 rmany\, where she works on Macromolecular Materials for Medicine at the DW
 I-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials. Her team designs injectable
  polymeric hydrogel precursors\, consisting of nano –and micron-scale bu
 ilding blocks that interlink to form macroporous 3D cell scaffolds and org
 anoids\, orient after injection to grow anisotropic tissues\, and actuate 
 to include movement into the growing tissues.\n 
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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