Biomaterials Science Blog

Professor Zifu Li received a BSc degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2008 and a PhD degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012. In 2013 and 2015, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta. He then joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as a research scientist. Since 2016, he has been a full professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His group studies mechano-nanooncology, hyperbaric oxygen-enabled cancer therapy and smart nanomedicines.

Read Zifu’s Emerging Investigator article, Modulating tumor mechanics with nanomedicine for cancer therapy, DOI: D3BM00363A.

Check out our interview with Zifu below:

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

Biomaterials Science is an ideal place to publish our research on the topic of modulating tumor mechanics with nanomedicine for cancer therapy, for instance, we published our research paper entitled “A two-pronged strategy to alleviate tumor hypoxia and potentiate photodynamic therapy by mild hyperthermia” as a Back Cover on Biomaterials Science. As we focus on mechano-nanooncology, we would be glad to submit our future researches to Biomaterials Science.

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

We are very excited to find that hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a widely implemented therapy in hospitals, selectively augments antitumor efficacy of nanomedicine, such as Doxil, Abraxane and antibodies. We are more excited to translate the findings we got in our lab into clinical trials. Finding a clinicaly-relevant and important problem is most challenging for our current research.

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

Understanding the impacts of tumor mechanics on tumor progression and cancer therapy and revealing the mechanisms by which nanomedicine regulates tumor mechanics are the most important questions.

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

Find a path that suits you and persist.

Find out more about Zifu’s research here. 

Ester J. Kwon is an assistant professor of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego. She earned her B.S. in Bioengineering and B.A. in Molecular & Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Washington with Suzie H. Pun and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Sangeeta N. Bhatia. Her group in the Bioengineering Department at UCSD engineers nanoscale tools, diagnostics, and treatments for diseases of the brain. Dr. Kwon is a recipient of the pre- and post-doctoral NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards, the NIH Director’s New Innovator award, and the NSF CAREER Award. In addition to her research activities, Dr. Kwon is motivated to create an inclusive research environment through the individualized mentorship of trainees and outreach to young scientists.

Read Dr Kwon’s Emerging Investigator article, Analysis of PEG-lipid anchor length on lipid nanoparticle pharmacokinetics and activity in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury, DOI: D2BM01846B.

Check out our interview with Dr Kwon below:

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

I’m very pleased that Biomaterials Science is a venue for publishing work at the intersection of engineering and biology.

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

The work that I find the most challenging and exciting is how to design nanomaterials that can navigate the body to the right organ and cell type.

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

While the field has concentrated on how to engineer nanomaterials to interact with biological systems, as technology advances I think important questions are emerging about how biological systems change in response to nanomaterials. I believe this will have many implications for nanomedicines in the future.

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

I’m not sure if I have any wisdom to share, but I personally found it important to focus my time and energy on a few projects.

Keep up with Dr Kwon’s research on the Kwon Lab website or follow her on twitter @esterjkwon.

Professor Jianliang Shen leads a biomedical and biomaterial research laboratory intending to develop innovative approaches that bring the next generation of treatments and diagnostics directly to the clinic. He has joint appointments at Wenzhou Medical University and Wenzhou Institute of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2017. He has authored over 150 publications on nano/microscale strategies for cancer and tissue engineering in Nature Biotechnology, Chemical Society Reviews, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, and so on.

Read Jianling’s Emerging Investigator Series Article, A chitosan-based self-healing hydrogel for accelerating infected wound healing, DOI: D3BM00061C.

Check out our interview with Jianliang below:

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

It was a great experience publishing our work in Biomaterials Sciences, the editors and reviewers handled the manuscript very professionally and efficiently.

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

At present, our most exciting aspect is hybrid biomaterials in tissue engineering. The biggest challenge in infected wound healing is how to design functional biomaterials to match the dynamic physiological bottlenecks.

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

In my opinion, the most important questions to be asked/answered are that：#1 How to develop an antibiotic-free broad-spectrum efficient and safe antibacterial strategy; #2 How to effectively repair chronic wounds and even the regeneration of hair follicles.

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

In my opinion, in the early stage of the scientific career, we should find like-minded scientists with different backgrounds to discuss and cooperate with because biomaterials science is an interdisciplinary subject.

Keep up with all of Jianliang’s research on the Shen lab Group Website.

Jiangjiexing Wu is an Associate Professor at Tianjin University. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2014 from Tianjin University. From 2011 to 2013, she studied at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a joint Ph.D. student. After graduation, she joined Nanjing University as a Research Associate Professor before she moved to Tianjin University in 2021. Her current research focuses on the rational design and synthesis of functional nanomaterials (such as nanozymes) for analytical, biomedical, and environmental applications. Her excellent research achievements have led to high-quality publications in J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Adv. Mater., Nat. Commun., Chem. Soc. Rev., etc. with more than 3600 citations, and are widely reported and highly praised by domestic and foreign media as “Highly Cited Paper”, “Hot Paper”, and “Cover Article”. She has been awarded several prestigious honours and awards, such as “Emerging Investigators”, “Gordon F. Kirkbright Bursary Award”, “Nanoscale Horizons Outstanding Paper Awards”, “ChemBioTalents”, and “IAAM Scientist Medal”. She is also a Community Board Member of Nanoscale Horizons, Review Editorial Board Member of Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, and a Youth Editorial Board Member of Chemical Synthesis.

Read Jiangjiexing’s Emerging Investigator Series article, “Glutathione peroxidase-like nanozymes: mechanism, classification, and bioapplication“, DOI: 10.1039/D2BM01915A.

Check out our interview with her below:

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

In my opinion, Biomaterials Science is the ideal journal to publish this topic. It is not necessary to report a new biomaterial, but rather to provide novel insight, resulting in novel and more in-depth mechanisms, and thus advancing biomaterial development.

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

There is nothing more exciting than watching this field develop rapidly, and more and more researchers are beginning to pay attention and work in it, as well as expanding the treatment to meet various medical needs.  The most challenging part is also the biomedical applications.  In what ways can these research be used as part of clinical therapy and as a means of advancing world health.

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

It is important to ask how these studies can be useful for clinical therapy, in other words, can at least one skilled application be derived from these studies for clinical therapy?

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

Make sure you retain an open mind about scientific research as well as an enthusiasm and curiosity about it.

Dr Maria Chiara Arno is an Assistant Professor in Polymeric Biomaterials at the University of Birmingham, working jointly across the School of Chemistry and the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences as a Birmingham Fellow. She completed a PhD at King’s College London in 2015, focusing on the development of peptide-like drugs for the treatment of pathologies linked to a dysregulation in iron metabolism. Following her doctoral studies, Maria Chiara took up a Research Fellow position at the University of Warwick, investigating the biological interactions of polymeric nanoparticles and 3D scaffolds in vitro and in vivo with Prof. Andrew Dove. In 2018, the group moved to the University of Birmingham where she took up a position as a Group Leader in Biomaterials Chemistry. Her current research is focussed on the development of novel cell-based therapies and materials.

Read Maria Chiara’s Emerging Investigator article, “Enhanced drug delivery to cancer cells through a pH-sensitive polycarbonate platform”, DOI: 10.1039/D2BM01626E.

Check out our interview below:

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

Biomaterials Science is an exceptional journal for publishing research that fits at the interface between material chemistry and biology. In particular, the emphasis of the journal on the in vitro and in vivo investigations of a diverse range of materials makes it an ideal platform for studies that exploit how material design can influence biological performance. In our paper published as part of the Emerging Investigators series we designed a polymer-drug conjugate with a degradable polycarbonate backbone and a pH-sensitive linker for delivery to cancer cells. While cancer-cell selectivity is usually achieved through targeting specific receptors at the cell surface, we demonstrated that our polymer platform can achieve enhanced delivery towards a wide range of cancer cells when compared to non-cancerous cell lines, as a consequence of its physicochemical properties.

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 fortunate to work with incredibly talented people who share my passion for designing new polymers for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering. I find it exciting and fulfilling to work at the interface of two fundamentally different fields (chemistry and biology). While this presents its challenges, it is incredibly rewarding to develop new science from the conceptual design of a project to the synthesis of new compounds and the investigation of their biological performance.

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

I think it is important to ask ourselves how we, as scientists, are going to drive the field forward and what the next big problem to tackle is in the field of biomaterials. It is also fundamental to discuss solutions to this problem and work collaboratively towards those. I believe that conducting multidisciplinary research through collaborations among individuals from different disciplines is key to reach this goal.

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

Be creative and build a network of people you trust and you want to work with. Don’t be shy to reach to your network when you need, you’ll find that most people are nice and keen to help.

Find out more about Maria Chiara’s research on her lab website.