Event
BIOE Seminar: Silk Spinning-Inspired Biofabrication for Tissue Engineering
Friday, April 5, 2024
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
A. James Clark Hall, Room #2121
John Fisher
jpfisher@umd.edu
Xuan Mu
Assistant Professor, Roy J Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Iowa
Silk Spinning-Inspired Biofabrication for Tissue Engineering
Abstract
Silk spinning, found in spiders and silkworms, is a naturally evolved polymer manufacturing characterized by monolithic feedstocks of silk proteins, ambient and aqueous processing conditions, and mechanical performance superior to many synthetic biopolymers. Silk spinning is largely governed by solvent cues, such as salt ions, in contrast to intense energy input, which directs the hierarchical assembly of silk proteins. These characteristics make silk spinning a source of inspiration for developing implantable tissue scaffolds, drug delivery systems, and in vitro disease models, yet the full potential remains incompletely unleashed. In this talk, I will present two silk spinning-inspired strategies to fabricate functional proteinaceous structures for tissue engineering. One is the conformation-driven strategy to devise highly resilient elastomers, derived from the conformational polymorphism of silk proteins. We have shown a semi-quantitative correlation between molecular conformations and macroscopic resilience. The other is salt ions-assisted 3D printing with monolithic silk protein inks. We have exhibited superior 3D printability, the bulk integration of biofunctional molecules, and the in vitro formation of bronchial epithelium, desired for drug delivery and airway bioengineering.
Speaker Bio
Dr. Xuan Mu is currently an assistant professor at the Roy J. Carver Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa. Before joining the current position, Dr. Mu obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry from the East China University of Science and Technology and performed biomedical research at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, Peking Union Medical College, Tufts University, and Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mu received the General Electric (GE) Foundation Scholarship, the Kwan-Cheng Wong postdoctoral fellowship, the Peking Union Medical College Rising Star Award, the Distinguished Abstract Award of NACB, the Jumpstart Tomorrow Feasibility Award, and the 2023 BMES ABioM Junior Investigator Research Award. He has published three book chapters and around fifty peer-reviewed articles and served as an associate editor of Frontiers of Biotechnology and Bioengineering. His research focuses on leveraging bioinspired fabrication to devise sustainable and biofunctional structures, scaffolds, and devices, with an emphasis on therapeutic tissue scaffolds and bioengineered disease models for the respiratory system.
