Recently, National Natural Science Foundation of China released the oncoming sponsored projects. We are pleased to learn that four faculties from bioinspired engineering and biomechanics center (BEBC) received the funding.

    Shangsheng Feng, acquired the general project named “complex flow transport mechanism in porous medium of test paper and its control methods”. This project faces to the construction of ‘point-of-care testing’ which is one of the major research fields of BEBC. Nowadays, research activities in this field are mainly focused on performance optimization by heavily using empirical and trial-and-error methods. The study on flow transport in paper-based detection device is in its infancy. To address this deficiency, this project from the point of view of transport in porous medium, investigates complex transport behaviors such as convection, diffusion, and reaction in paper porous medium. The research outputs will provide new ideas and new methods to further improve the detection performance of paper-based device.

    Guorui Jin, acquired the youth project in the name of ‘Conjugated polymer nanodots with distinct emissions as non-invasive fluorescent trackers in revealing the interactions between stem cells and nanofiberous scaffold in skin tissue engineering’. This project focus on understanding the in vivo distribution and engraftment of cell-scaffold composite and their interactions during tissue regeneration. Characterization and tracking the engineered cell microenvironment is one of the major research fields of BEBC. Many of the tissues in the human body do not have the capacity to regenerate, so damage to these tissues is irreversible. Patients suffering from organ damage must rely on organ transplantation to regain function. However, the severe limitation in the number of available donors, leaving thousands of patients on waiting lists. To address the issues related to tissue damage and organ transplantation, stem cell based tissue engineering has emerged as an interdisciplinary research field that using biomaterials based scaffold to regulate the adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of stem cells to develop functional substitutes for patients with damaged tissues. However, the in vivo distribution, degradation of biomaterials and the interactions between stem cells and biomaterials are still unclear, which hinders the clinical applications of tissue engineered grafts. Therefore, it is vital to understand the degradation of scaffolds and study the stem cell-scaffold interactions during tissue regeneration. Herein, we introduce two conjugated polymer (CP) nanodots Poly(phenylene ethynylene)(PPE) and (Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (PFBT) with distinct emissions as non-invasive fluorescent probes with high brightness and low cytotoxicity for tracking of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their supportive electrospun nanofibrous scaffold to reveal the degradation of scaffold and their interactions during skin regeneration in a mouse model.

    Guoyou Huang, acquired the youth project in the name of “The effects and mechanisms of extracellular matrix stiffening and softening on cardiac myofibroblast differentiation in three dimensions”. Myocardial fibrosis, as the pivotal cause and effect of heart failure, has been one of the major therapeutic targets for treating cardiovascular diseases. The differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, i.e., the cardiac myofibroblast differentiation, plays a critical role in myocardial remodeling and is becoming the research highlight of myocardial fibrosis. The cardiac myofibroblast differentiation has been found to be closely regulated by extracellular matrix stiffness. However, the effects and mechanisms of matrix stiffness, especially matrix stiffening and softening, on cardiac myofibroblast differentiation in three-dimensional (3D) remain elusive. Dr. Huang has previously done many works on hydrogel-based 3D tissue construct fabrication and cell mechanical microenvironment engineering. In this proposal, he plans to develop and apply collagen-alginate hybrid hydrogels for engineering the mechanical microenvironment of cardiac myofibroblasts and investigate the cellular responses to matrix stiffening and softening. The roles of angiotensin II type 1 receptor, Yes-associated protein and transcriptional co-activator with PDZ binding motif are studied to uncover the matrix stiffness mechanotransduction pathways of cardiac myofibroblasts in 3D. The results would be helpful for understanding the pathological mechanisms of myocardial fibrosis, preventing and reversing myocardial fibrosis during heart failure. Dr. Huang’s research has been focused on Biomaterials, Biomechanics and Microtissue Engineering. 

    Qingzhen Yang, acquired the youth project in the name of ‘a mechanism study on the fabrication of micro-pillar array bio-template with spatially varying stiffness based on scanning electrical filling technique’. This project faces to the construction of ‘cell mechanical micro-environment’ which is one of the major research fields of BEBC. It has been found that the stiffness of extracellular matrix has a significant influence on cell’s growth, differentiation and migration. Howbeit, it is still challenging to construct the extracellular matrix with its stiffness in a controllable manner, especially the nonuniform matrix with a spatially varying stiffness. In order to overcome this barrier, Qingzhen Yang proposed a novel technique named ‘scanning electrical filling technique’. In such a method, a sequential electric field is imposed between the conductive nozzle and template to drive the liquid polymer for spatially varying ‘partial filling’. The filling height of the pillar and hence the stiffness of matrix is controlled by tuning the external voltage. This project is opening a new door in engineering the extracellular matrix with spatially varying stiffness and will serve as a toolbox to solve issues in cell culture. Qingzhen Yang’s research interests focus on the micro/nano fabrication, after joining the BEBC in 2014, he studied the novel micro/nano devices and their applications in biomedical engineering.

    For the faculties who have awarded the funding, we deliver our sincere congratulations to them. And we also look forward to more funding projects for BEBC in the future.