Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine, and Biomaterials

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

To all those interested in these topics, I kind of wanted to discuss interests related to these three topics. I applied to PhD programs in BME and MSE in order to conduct research in these fields. I sadly haven't actually done research in these areas, but I have taken classes in biomaterials, biosensors, biology, and regulatory affairs for medical devices. Because of this, I found out that these fields were a great combination of my undergraduate degree (materials science and engineering) and my love of biology. I hope to work with polymer (or polymer-based) scaffolds for tissue regeneration applications. However, I was wondering if anyone has any experience in these fields and any other research avenues/options that are done in these fields. I want to explore other things I could do with these fields since I have very little hands-on experience. Thanks in advance!

[sgaw10]

Exact same situation as you, lacking experience, but I am always happy to chat. I love the field. I have taken a lot of classes on the topic, so I might be able to suggest some alternative things. One route might be using biomaterials for cleaner water.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

1 hour ago, sgaw10 said:

One route might be using biomaterials for cleaner water.

I have heard of that application, which are really cool! I thought I wanted to do materials research in clean energy, sustainability, and finding cleaner alternatives to existing procedures, such purifying water. I actually became interested in biomaterials when I learned about biomimicry. Biomimetics is super fascinating since it integrates environmental-friendly, biological processes into synthesizing materials or altering the physical aspects of materials in order to create a specific property. However, I think using biomaterials as a basis to regrow/heal tissue or whole organs is so amazing. Also, I am interested in using biomaterials in biosensors, such as flexible electrodes, and drug delivery systems. Also, microrobots are super cool and biomaterials are very important for them to work properly in the body.

[extramaniac]

i'm the opposite of you guys. took no classes but have decent experience doing research in this area. happy to answer any questions if i can

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

@extramaniac If you don't mind me asking: what work/research did you do? What did you like about it? What didn't you like about? I know that you said in the Biomedical 2019 Application Profiles forum that you are switching to imaging. What made you change from tissue engineering to this?

[extramaniac]

14 minutes ago, Moods said:

@extramaniac If you don't mind me asking: what work/research did you do? What did you like about it? What didn't you like about? I know that you said in the Biomedical 2019 Application Profiles forum that you are switching to imaging. What made you change from tissue engineering to this?

hey, so i worked on organ-on-a-chip models using stem cells to accurately model human organs (e.g. heart, liver, fat). its actually a supremely cool field which requires intimate knowledge of materials science and molecular biology. i'll say that using stem cells is just kind of a pain in the ass. they are so finnicky and getting them to model adult cells is not trivial at all. TBH, my interest in it started to wane when I realized that getting these stem cells to mature was a big hinderance to getting this type of technology to be used for clinical needs. and they need to be mature in a variety of ways: gene expression profile, metabollically, electrophysiology (for neuromusclar joints or cardiac systems), mechanically, etc.

 

the aim is to really use these systems as a way to model human physiology and pathophysiology. rodent models are not great at this because they can not take into account differences between individual humans. tissue engineering technologies, however do, and with advances like CRISPR in the biological realm, the possibilities to model disease for individual patients to discover new drug therapies in endless. the field, however is very young and my main interests lie more in EE and more direct applications to the clinic. i personally like imaging more, and this interest dates back to middle school when i was obsessed with building computers with high end graphics.

 

 

[sgaw10]

7 hours ago, Moods said:

Also, I am interested in using biomaterials in biosensors, such as flexible electrodes, and drug delivery systems

So you're probably already aware of this too, but biodegradable electronics are also something to consider. I think Northwestern does stuff in this area if I'm not mistaken

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

19 hours ago, extramaniac said:

hey, so i worked on organ-on-a-chip models using stem cells to accurately model human organs (e.g. heart, liver, fat). its actually a supremely cool field which requires intimate knowledge of materials science and molecular biology. i'll say that using stem cells is just kind of a pain in the ass. they are so finnicky and getting them to model adult cells is not trivial at all. TBH, my interest in it started to wane when I realized that getting these stem cells to mature was a big hinderance to getting this type of technology to be used for clinical needs. and they need to be mature in a variety of ways: gene expression profile, metabollically, electrophysiology (for neuromusclar joints or cardiac systems), mechanically, etc.

 

the aim is to really use these systems as a way to model human physiology and pathophysiology. rodent models are not great at this because they can not take into account differences between individual humans. tissue engineering technologies, however do, and with advances like CRISPR in the biological realm, the possibilities to model disease for individual patients to discover new drug therapies in endless. the field, however is very young and my main interests lie more in EE and more direct applications to the clinic. i personally like imaging more, and this interest dates back to middle school when i was obsessed with building computers with high end graphics.

Thanks for your answer! Your change in interest totally makes sense. I have heard that working with stem cells is a huge pain, but I hope to work more on the materials development side and less with seeding the scaffolds with cells, but we shall see. Maybe I might actually like doing that. Organ-on-a-chip models are pretty neat. I have read a lot of research papers and articles about them and might even consider them for my PhD.

Imaging is also a very fascinating topic. I hope you get good news soon from your the schools you applied to. Thanks again for your help!

12 hours ago, sgaw10 said:

So you're probably already aware of this too, but biodegradable electronics are also something to consider. I think Northwestern does stuff in this area if I'm not mistaken

I actually haven't heard of this. I am going to check it out, thank you. I am even applying to Northwestern, so that's awesome!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

Here are some topics :

Biomaterials

• Hydrogels, tissue scaffolds, etc. for wound healing, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine
• Nanoparticles
• Surface modifications
• Implants
• Stents
• Biocompatibility, biodegradation, and bioactivity
• Materials for biosensors
• Materials for bioimaging
• Drug delivery/therapeutics
• Injectable materials
• Supramolecular materials
• Immunomodulation
• Bioprinting
• Organ/tissue-on-a-chip

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

• Biomaterials (scaffolds, nanoparticles, implants, injectables)
• Mimicking the ECM
• Mimicking environments of tumors and diseases for understanding their behavior and drug testing
• Controlling stem cells
• Growing whole organs
• Bioprinting tissue, organs, and biomaterials
• Neural, bone, musculoskeletal, cartilage, skin, fat, etc.
• Culturing tissue
• Clinical studies on animals
• Vascularization and getting oxygen to new tissue

Edited December 6, 2018 by Moods 2.0

[Mataharii]

I'm also interested in this topic! I have a mechanical engineering background, but my undergrad institution has a very heavy focus in polymer science. My research has been in 3D printed polymer scaffolds for tissue repair. I'm interested in continuing to pursue additive manufacturing for tissue engineering as a graduate research topic. Especially because I love 3D printers, and have been building them as a hobby for a few years.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

6 hours ago, Mataharii said:

I'm also interested in this topic! I have a mechanical engineering background, but my undergrad institution has a very heavy focus in polymer science. My research has been in 3D printed polymer scaffolds for tissue repair. I'm interested in continuing to pursue additive manufacturing for tissue engineering as a graduate research topic. Especially because I love 3D printers, and have been building them as a hobby for a few years.

That's awesome! Your research background is my dream. My undergrad institution in my department (MSE) sadly was very metals and ceramic-focused, so I didn't have any hands-on experience with polymers nor tissue engineering research. It's also super cool that you have been building 3D printers as a hobby! Like, what???!

[Mataharii]

12 hours ago, Moods said:

That's awesome! Your research background is my dream. My undergrad institution in my department (MSE) sadly was very metals and ceramic-focused, so I didn't have any hands-on experience with polymers nor tissue engineering research. It's also super cool that you have been building 3D printers as a hobby! Like, what???!

Aw thanks! I guess the cool thing about grad school though is that we get to try working with new topics, even if it wasn’t our undergrad specialty :) 

And it’s really not as fancy as it sounds!  80% of it is just calibrating whatever you built lol.