Title: From biological organization principles to complex tissue engineering and in vitro models

Abstract: Living systems have evolved to grow and heal through self-assembling processes capable of organizing a wide variety of molecular building-blocks at multiple size scales. While advances in nanotechnology and biofabrication are enhancing our capacity to emulate features of some of these biological structures, it is increasingly evident that recreation of their complexity and adaptability will require new ways to build with molecular building-blocks. This talk will present recent work form our laboratory focused on integrating supramolecular events found in nature such as self-assembly^1-4, disorder-to-order transitions^4,5, and organic-inorganic interactions^2,5 with engineering (e.g. biofabrication) or materials science (e.g. host-guest complexes) approaches to organize peptides and proteins into functional materials with emergent properties. These materials are being used to engineer in vitro models for cancer^1,3 and vascular tissue⁴ as well as in the repair/regeneration of tissues such as dental enamel⁵ and bone.²

References

1.   Osuna de la Peña et al, Nat Commun 2021, 10.1038 / s41467-021-25921-9.

2.   Okesola et al, ACS Nano 2021, 10.1021/acsnano.0c09814.

3.   Hedegaard et al, Sci Adv 2020, 10.1126/sciadv.abb3298.

4.   Wu et al, Nat Commun 2020, 10.1038/s41467-020-14716-z.

5.   Elsharkawy et al, Nat Commun 2018, 10.1038/s41467-018-04319-0.

Biography & Research Scope 

Alvaro Mata’s research aims to integrate supramolecular chemistry with engineering principles to develop creative and innovative ways to use biomolecules to build intelligent and functional biomedical devices. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Kansas, a Master’s Degree from the University of Strathclyde, and a Doctor of Engineering Degree from Cleveland State University. During his doctorate he worked at The Cleveland Clinic with Prof. Shuvo Roy and from 2005-2008 as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University. From 2008-2013 he was Head of the Nanotechnology Platform at Parc Científic Barcelona in Spain and from 2014-2017 he was the Director of the Institute of Bioengineering at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). 

Institutional Profile: Staff - The University of Nottingham

A 'Tea with the Speaker' will follow this seminar, where Pathway 2/PGR staff and students are warmly encouraged to join in an informal discussion with the speaker following their talk. 

Professor Alvaro Mata