BME Seminar Series: Lijie Grace Zhang, Ph.D.

Goergen Hall 101 (Sloan Auditorium)

"Integrating 3D Printing and Nanobiomaterials for Complex Tissue Regeneration"

Lijie Grace Zhang, Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Department of Medicine
The George Washington University

Abstract: Cells within the human body are in intimate contact with a 3D nanostructured extracellular matrix composed of numerous organic and inorganic components. As a result, one of the revolutionary changes in the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering is to develop biologically inspired nanomaterials and advanced 3D biofabrication techniques to create complex tissue construct mimicking native tissue. However, related studies are limited. Therefore, the main objective of our research is to develop novel biologically inspired nanomaterials and advanced 3D printing techniques to fabricate the next generation of nanocomposite scaffolds for complex tissue regeneration. For this purpose, we designed and synthesized innovative biologically inspired nanomaterials (i.e., nano hydroxyapatites, carbon nanomaterials, DNA based self-assembly nanotubes, and core-shell nanospheres with bioactive factors). Through 3D printing in our lab, a series of biomimetic tissue scaffolds with nano and micro features were fabricated. Our results show that these 3D printed nanocomposite scaffolds have not only improved mechanical properties but also excellent cytocompatibility properties for enhancing various cell growth and differentiation, thus promising for complex tissue regeneration.