Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series

Speaker: Xiaoming (Shawn) He, , Fishcell Department of Bioengineering University of Maryland, College Park

Talk Title: Bioinspired Multiscale Engineering of Cell and Molecule-Based Medicines

Abstract: Over the past decades, tremendous advances have been made in field of medicine. As a result, not only small molecules, peptides/proteins, and nucleic acids (aka, conventional molecule-based medicine) but also cells, tissues, and organs (aka, cell-based medicine), are extensively explored as medicine today. However, the challenges to both medicines in terms of their safety and efficacy from their procurement and fabrication to the clinical uses, is still enormous. The issues range from poor bioavailability to systemic toxicity and low specificity for molecule-based medicine. For cell-based medicine, non-physiological culture in vitro, immune rejection and uncontrolled differentiation of stem cells in vivo, graft-versus-host disease for therapeutic immune cells, and difficulty of long-term banking toward clinical use, are additional hurdles. We have been working on addressing these challenges facing today’s medicine with bioinspired multiscale engineering strategies. In this talk, I will show our recent data on developing novel bioinspired multiscale systems for engineering both cell and molecule-based medicines, particularly stem cells, immune cells, and RNAs, to improve their quality, safety, and efficacy for combating various diseases including heart attack and cancer.

Biography: Xiaoming (Shawn) He is a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2004 from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and conducted postdoctoral training from 2004-2007 at Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina from 2007-2011, and Associate Professor and Full Professor at the Ohio State University from 2011-2017. His current research is focused on developing micro and nanoscale biomaterials and devices to engineer and bank totipotent, pluripotent, and multipotent stem cells for the treatment and early detection of various diseases including but not limited to cancer, infertility, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and neurological disorders. His research has been funded by grants with him as the PI from various private foundations like the American Cancer Society (ACS) and government agencies like the NSF and NIH (9 R01s), including the ACS Research Scholar Grant and the NCI Innovative Research in Cancer Nanotechnology (IRCN) Grant. He has published ~150 peer-reviewed journal articles in high-ranking journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering, and Nature Communications, in addition to one book and four book chapters. He is an Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medical Devices published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He served as the Chair of the ASME Biotransport Committee, and has been an associate editor or editorial board member of five different journals. He is a fellow of the ASME and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Host: Keyue Shen

Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Carla Stanard