Biomaterials Science Blog

Dr. Yichun Wang joined the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame as an Assistant Professor in fall of 2020. She received her training as a postdoctoral research fellow in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, where her research was focused on the development of new generation nanobiotics targeting amyloid protein in extracellular matrix of biofilm.  She obtained her PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan, working on the theoretical and experimental framework of an ex-vivo evaluation system based on engineered 3D tissue culture models with tunable microenvironment. Currently, her research lab at Notre Dame is dedicated to the rational design of biomimetic nanomaterials, including chiral nanoparticles and nanocomposites, to empower next-generation medicine for treating cancer and neurodegenerative disease, by combining engineering, theoretical models, and computation. By doing so, she aims to provide valuable insights and advancements in the application of nanomaterials in healthcare.  Her work holds great promise in innovating healthcare through cutting-edge nanotechnology research, earning her multiple recent grants and awards, including CMBE Rising Star Award, NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) and NSF CAREER awards.

Read Yichun’s Emerging Investigator article ‘Stimulative piezoelectric nanofibrous scaffolds for enhanced small extracellular vesicle production in 3D cultures‘, DOI: 10.1039/D4BM00504J

1. How do you feel about Biomaterials Science as a place to publish research on this topic?

Biomaterials Science is an excellent platform for publishing research on innovative biomaterials and biomedical engineering. The journal’s focus on cutting-edge biomaterial advancements and its broad readership in both academia and industry make it an ideal place to disseminate our findings. By showcasing our work on a novel 3D piezoelectric nanofibrous scaffold for enhanced small extracellular vesicle (sEV) production, we were able to contribute to the growing field of biomaterials and therapeutic delivery systems. I believe Biomaterials Science effectively bridges material innovation with biomedical applications, helping to advance the field.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment, and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I’m most excited about the potential impact of our stimulative 3D culture platform on the production and clinical translation of sEVs. Achieving a 15.7-fold increase in sEV production rate per cell, while maintaining consistent particle size and protein composition, is a significant advancement. This technology can accelerate sEV-based drug delivery applications, which have transformative potential for targeted therapies.

The most challenging part of our work lies in understanding and optimizing the complex interplay between the 3D microenvironment, acoustic stimulation, and cellular responses. Achieving reproducibility across different cell types and scaling the platform for larger production volumes are critical challenges that need to be addressed as we move towards clinical applications.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Some of the most important questions in this field include:

• How can we optimize the production and scalability of sEVs? While platforms like ours show promise, further advancing the biomaterials and optimizing large-scale production with high consistency remains a challenge.
• What are the molecular mechanisms governing sEV production and cargo loading in response to different stimuli? Understanding these mechanisms will help us further enhance sEV yield and tailor their therapeutic payload.
• How do we ensure the safety, stability, and efficacy of sEVs for clinical applications? Addressing concerns about immunogenicity, cargo degradation, and controlled delivery is essential for the translational success of sEV-based therapies.

4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

My advice is to embrace interdisciplinary collaboration in research. Complex research challenges, such as those in drug delivery and biomaterials, often require expertise from multiple disciplines—materials science, biology, engineering, and medicine. Building strong collaborations not only advances your research but also opens up new opportunities for innovation. Additionally, don’t hesitate to tackle ambitious ideas; transformative breakthroughs often come from pushing boundaries.

Find out more about The Wang Lab

Connect with Yichun on Linkedin and X

Dr. Brian Aguado is currently an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at UC San Diego, where his laboratory research is focused on studying sex differences in cardiovascular disease using biomaterial technologies. Dr. Aguado completed his BS degree in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University and his MS and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. He also obtained his certificate in Management for Scientists and Engineers from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Aguado has received numerous awards to support his research, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award, the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, the American Heart Association Career Development Award, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Science Diversity Leadership Award. Dr. Aguado currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards for the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A and GEN Biotechnology. Dr. Aguado is also a dedicated science communicator outside of the lab and seeks to engage historically excluded and marginalized populations in the sciences. Dr. Aguado co-founded LatinXinBME (Twitter: @LatinXinBME), a new social media initiative dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive community of Latinx biomedical engineers and scientists to support each other personally and professionally through their careers.  For his efforts, he was named one of the 100 Most Inspiring Latinx Scientists in America by Cell Press and received the Biomaterials Diversity Award for Young Investigator from the Biomaterials journal. Find out more about Brian’s research on his webpage Follow Brian on Twitter @BrianAguado and check out @LatinXinBME

Read Brian’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Inflammatory serum factors from aortic valve stenosis patients modulate sex differences in valvular myofibroblast activation and osteoblast-like differentiation‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2BM00844K

Check out our interview below:

1. How do you feel about Biomaterials Science as a place to publish research on this topic? 

Ever since graduate school, I have always acknowledged Biomaterials Science as the preeminent journal for our field. For a couple years during my PhD, I blogged for the Royal Society of Chemistry and contributed short “pop science” articles about Hot Papers published in Biomaterials Science. Now as a PI, it feels rather special to have contributed my lab’s first research article in a journal I have respected my entire career. 

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I am proud that my lab’s research program at the intersection of sex-specific cardiovascular biology and biomaterials engineering resonates with historically marginalized students in STEM fields. I believe that through addressing health disparities (specifically sex-based disparities) in the lab, I can simultaneously attract folks from marginalized communities to the bioengineering community, all while conducting research that impacts their respective communities. 

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Our lab is interested in understanding the independent and synergistic contributions sex hormones, sex chromosomes, and inflammation in regulating sex differences in cardiovascular disease. In order to resolve sex and gender disparities, our lab believes biomaterials can be leveraged to determine sex-specific mechanisms of disease and more accurate sex-specific treatments. 

4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Prioritize your trainees over your science always. Your students’ career success hinges on their personal happiness and well being. Focus your efforts on bringing your full authentic self to the work place, which will help develop strong rapport and trust with your lab members and create a more inclusive lab environment. 

Dr. Katelyn Swindle-Reilly – Photo courtesy of College of Engineering at Ohio State

Katelyn Swindle-Reilly, PhD, received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and MS in Chemical Engineering and PhD in Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. She completed postdoctoral training in Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Saint Louis University. She then worked in industry as a Senior Scientist at Rochal Industries. She concurrently held an Adjunct appointment in BME at The University of Texas at San Antonio. She joined The Ohio State University (OSU) as Assistant Professor in BME and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) in 2016. She has a courtesy appointment in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. Dr. Swindle-Reilly’s research focuses on the design of polymeric biomaterials for soft tissue repair and drug delivery with focused applications in ophthalmology. Since 2020, she has also been serving as Chief Technology Officer of Vitranu, Inc., a startup that licensed ocular drug delivery technologies her lab developed at OSU. Professional recognitions have included the Controlled Release Society (CRS) Ocular Delivery Focus Group (OcD) Young Investigator Award, selection as an Emerging Vision Scientist by NAEVR, OSU Early Career Innovator of the Year, OSU College of Engineering Innovators Award, and the Ohio Lions Eye Research Foundation Lois Hagelberger-Huebner Young Investigator Award. Her teaching and mentoring incorporates entrepreneurial minded learning (EML). Dr. Swindle-Reilly is interested in promoting entrepreneurialism and STEM careers, particularly to female students, and is actively involved with programming that supports these interests. Find out more about Katelyn’s research on her webpage Follow Katelyn on Twitter @SwindleReilly and LinkedIn

Read Katelyn’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Sustained release of heme–albumin as a potential novel therapeutic approach for age-related macular degeneration’, DOI: 10.1039/D2BM00905F

Check out our interview with Katelyn below:

1. How do you feel about Biomaterials Science as a place to publish research on this topic?

Biomaterials Science is an excellent biomaterials journal, and was therefore a great place to publish our interdisciplinary work exploring new protein therapeutics and delivery from polydopamine nanoparticles.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

I am really excited about recent collaborations that have developed. This will enable us to explore new therapeutic approaches for treatments of several ocular diseases.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

There have been many recent significant advances and there are new and emerging treatments for vision-threatening conditions, but there is still a lot that remains unknown about the eye. For example, age-related macular degeneration appears to have many root causes, and more is being discovered by basic scientists and clinicians. In order to advance treatments for these patients, it is important to work with a diverse team that is investigating mechanisms behind a disease, clinicians treating the condition, and translational scientists/engineers.

4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Believe in yourself and your abilities, know your worth, and persist through failure. It is not easy to establish your own program, and research is riddled with obstacles. I took a less traditional path to my academic career, which caused additional challenges, but ultimately my different perspective and persistence enabled my work.  

Davide Brambilla is Associate Professor of drug delivery at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Prof. Brambilla completed his PhD in pharmaceutical technologies at the School of Pharmacy of the University of Paris-Sud (now Paris-Saclay) under the supervision of Professor Patrick Couvreur on the design of nanoparticles for drug delivery applications. In 2012, he joined the laboratory of JC Leroux at Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) where, after 3 years of post-doctoral stay, he was promoted Group Leader. In 2017, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Université de Montréal, where he started his research laboratory focused on micro and nanotechnology-based drug delivery tools and diagnostic devices, and teaches the development of biological drugs and pharmacokinetics. In 2022 he was appointed Associate Professor. His laboratory is currently composed of 12 members and mainly focuses on the design of organic nanoparticles for the delivery of genetic materials for gene therapy applications, and the design of polymeric microneedles for diagnostic applications. He pioneered the concept of fluorescent medical micro-tattoos for the non-invasive and wearable monitoring of physiological and pathological parameters. He is a Junior Research Fellow of Québec Research Fund, the biotherapy Research Chair from the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association and Biosimilars Canada, the current President of the Canadian chapter of the Controlled Release Society, and acts as Assistant Editor of the Journal of Controlled Release.‎ He co-authored over 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals and filed 3 patents. Find out more about Davide’s research on his webpage Follow Davide on Twitter @DBrambilla_Lab

Read Davide’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Current knowledge on the tissue distribution of mRNA nanocarriers for therapeutic protein expression‘, DOI: 10.1039/D2BM00859A

Check out our interview with Davide below:

1. How do you feel about Biomaterials Science as a place to publish research on this topic?

Recent pandemics, and approval of mRNA-nanoparticles vaccines, demonstrated the importance of biomaterials in medicine and the society. This is just the beginning of a revolution driven by new materials toward a precision and personalized medicine. I feel that Biomaterials Science represents the ideal journal for sharing research at the interface of material sciences and medicine.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

Nanomedicine and drug delivery have entered in a very exciting phase, where decades of intense research are providing important results. The next decade we will witness impact of this silent revolution in medicine. The biggest challenges will be the translation of the successes of nucleic acid-nanomedicine from the vaccination to the treatment of severe diseases.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

Costs, efficacy, safety of the new generation treatments.

Dr. Katharina Maisel – Bioengineering Department, University of Maryland Alan P. Santos photography

Dr. Katharina Maisel obtained her BSE in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan and PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago in lymphatic and respiratory immunobiology prior to joining the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland as faculty in 2019. The Mucosal Associated Immune System Engineering and Lymphatics (MAISEL) Lab’s research integrates materials science, immunology, mucosal barrier physiology, and drug delivery to design nanoparticles to take advantage of and study the interface between biological barriers, particularly the lymphatics, interstitial tissue, and mucosal surfaces, and nanoparticles. Dr. Katharina Maisel has won a number of awards, including NSF GRFP and NIH F32 fellowships as a trainee, the American Lung Association Dalsemer Award, LAM Foundation Career Development Award, NSF CAREER Award, and NIH NIGMS Maximizing Investigator Research Award. Her work has led to numerous high-impact publications, particularly in the field of drug delivery and mucosal and lymphatic immunoengineering, and several patents. Find out more about Katharina’s research on her webpage Follow Katharina on Twitter @MaiselLab

Read Katharina’s Emerging Investigator article, ‘Multiple particle tracking (MPT) using PEGylated nanoparticles reveals heterogeneity within murine lymph nodes and between lymph nodes at different locations’ DOI: 10.1039/D2BM00816E

Check out our interview with Katharina below:

1. How do you feel about Biomaterials Science as a place to publish research on this topic?.

I believe that Biomaterials Science is a great place to publish work that lies at the interface of biology and materials science, such as our work on designing nanoparticles that effectively cross lymph node interstitial tissue for studying interstitial tissue spaces and microrheology of immune organs.

2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment and what do you find most challenging about your research?

We have had some interesting findings on how material properties like surface chemistry affect nanoparticle transport through biological barriers and suspect that some of this may be related to the protein corona that forms on any nanoparticle that is submerged into a solution containing proteins. It’s amazing how little we still know about how material properties affect the protein corona and how that in turn affects nanoparticle functions. We’re really excited to make some headway in this area and contribute to the growing body of work on protein corona and nanoparticle-biological material interactions particularly in the context of immunity.

3. In your opinion, what are the most important questions to be asked/answered in this field of research?

There are a lot of important questions out there and I like to focus on ones that have not been asked (or not asked enough). We have made so many different materials already but don’t always fully understand how they interact with biological systems. The best example is the use of poylethylene glycol as a ‘stealth’ agent for many years, until more recent discoveries showed that your body can actually develop anti-PEG antibodies. Honing in on how different materials interact with the biological environment and in particular the immune system is a key area of focus in my research group.

4. Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?

Do what you love and try to find the right environment for you. Every job has its ups and downs so having a support network and environment that will bring out your best, provide the strength you need at times, and do the work you enjoy most can make all the difference in being both successful and actually enjoying life while you’re growing in your career.