Speaker:

Prabhas Moghe, Ph.D.
Professor
Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Rutgers University

Title:

Nano Particle-Based Biointerfaces:  Engineering Matrix Assembly and Cell Dynamics

Abstract:

Engineered bioactive materials can play a major role in guiding tissue repair and regeneration.  The control of single cell-level dynamics through engineered materials remains a major challenge. 

We investigated the possibility of engineering dynamic biointerfaces, through the display of cell-interactive biological ligands from nanoscale materials that would permit dynamic cell-nanoparticle interactions following cell adhesion.  The primary component of our interfaces is albumin-derived nanoparticles functionalized with fibronectin-derived sequences.  Our key application of interest has been engineering skin cell behaviors (keratinocytes, fibroblasts and their related precursor/stem cells) with the long-term goal of accelerating skin repair and wound healing.  We report that over a certain regimen of the size scale, such nanoparticles can indeed accelerate ligand clearance dynamics, leading to efficient epithelial motility dynamics. In contrast, different scale regimen control and promote other cell behaviors, such as dermal cell contractility and matrix assembly. 

New challenges concerning the nanoparticle-biointerfaces include their spatial organization in 2-D and 3-D as well as their multifunctional potential as intracellular reporters and gene carriers.