Peter X. Ma, PhDRichard H. Kingery Endowed Collegiate Professor, Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of MichiganHost: Professor Jonathan Rivnay

"Biomaterials to Engineer Regeneration"

Regenerative medicine aims to create replacement tissues and organs by utilizing the highly regenerative potentials of stem cells. There is a growing recognition of 3D matrix microenvironments in regulating the fate and function of stem cells. A key challenge facing regenerative medicine is to recapitulate the microenvironments in a developmental or healing program to maintain stemness, to accelerate proliferation, or to direct stem cell lineage specification. Our lab takes a biomimetic approach to design biodegradable polymers to modulate 3D microenvironments on the micro, nano and molecular scales for stem cells to regenerate tissues and organs. We also regulate immune response to enhance regeneration. Examples of regenerating bone, cartilage, intervertibral disc, dental and cardiovascular tissues will be presented to demenstrate the impact of biomimetic approaches in regenerative medicine.