Harvard University (2013 - )
University of Pennsylvania (2004-2013)
Johns Hopkins University (1999-2004)
Christopher S. Chen,born in 1968,is an American biological engineer. He is the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University and member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Boston. [1]
Chen has published over 250 research papers. His research investigates the application of engineering principles to control tissue assembly,repair and regeneration,and incorporates areas including nanotechnology,tissue engineering,engineered cellular micro-environments,micro-electromechanical systems and micro-fabrication technologies. [2]
Chen has been awarded numerous awards and distinctions such as ONR Young Investigator Award in 1999, [3] the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2000, [4] [5]
Chen completed his Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from Harvard University in 1990,where he conducted research on integrin receptors and biomechanics of running. After spending a year abroad,he joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his Master’s in Mechanical Engineering in 1993. He then joined the M.D.-Ph.D. program run by the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). He completed his dissertation research with Donald E. Ingber and George M. Whitesides on "Engineering the adhesion of cells to substrates",and received a Ph.D. in 1997 and an M.D. in 1999. [1]
Chen joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering and in Oncology in 1999. In 2004,he moved to the University of Pennsylvania,where he served as the inaugural J. Peter Skirkanich Professor of Innovation in Bioengineering,founded and directed the Penn Center for Engineering Cells and Regeneration,and was a founding member of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine. [5] In 2013,Chen joined Boston University as Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. In 2019,he was appointed the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University,the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members at Boston University. [6]
Chen has been a member of numerous advisory boards,committees and review groups of organizations such as the Society for BioMEMS and Biomedical Nanotechnology,the United States Office of the Under Secretary of Defense,Defense Sciences Research Council,and Faculty of 1000 Biology. Chen also holds several leadership positions at the interface of engineering,biology,and medicine,including the founding Director of the Boston University Biological Design Center, [7] the Deputy Director of a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center focused on integrating nanomanufacturing,cellular engineering,and regenerative methods to create personalized fully functionalized heart tissue,and co-Principal Investigator on the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center on Engineering Mechanobiology. [8]
Chen has served as Editor or Editorial Board member for numerous scientific journals,including Science Translational Medicine,Developmental Cell,Cell Stem Cell,Annual Reviews in Cell and Developmental Biology,Cell and Molecular Bioengineering,Technology,and Journal of Cell Science.
Most of Chen’s work is at the interdisciplinary research interface between engineering,biology,and medicine. Chen’s main areas of research is in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine,where he has made contributions in cellular microenvironments,tissue assembly,and vascular biology. Throughout these studies,he has worked on the development of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanotechnologies to reveal how cellular organization,mechanics,and adhesive interactions control cellular function.
One of Chen’s major research areas is on the interactions of cells with their surrounding microenvironment. He has articulated that not only biochemical,but also physical cues,stimulate signaling that directs cellular behaviors. [9] His published works have highlighted the importance of cellular adhesion to surrounding extracellular matrix scaffold,adhesion to neighboring cells,and forces transmitted through those adhesions in regulating responses such as cell proliferation,stem cell differentiation,and multicellular organization. [10] He has developed microfabrication and nanotechnology approaches to show how the geometric patterns of adhesive interactions,and whether those interactions are planar or in three-dimensional space,can dramatically impact how cells respond. [11] In defining a role for mechanical forces in these events,he has described the development of several technologies to measure these cellular forces. [12]
Chen has used his insights in cellular microenvironments to develop strategies to engineer tissue assembly. He has advocated that these synthetic tissues can serve not only as implantable therapies but also as surrogates of human tissues in pharmaceutical and translational research. [13] Chen has demonstrated how the shape of multicellular aggregates can be used to direct patterns of bone versus fat differentiation in engineered tissues. [14] His works report the use of microposts as physical anchors to guide the formation of aligned micro-scale tissues,and has used these systems to build tissue mimetics of stroma,skeletal muscle,airway and vessel muscles,and cardiac tissue. [15] Chen also has reported on the development of microfluidic platforms where cells line perfusable channels,including 3D printing techniques to create a framework for a synthetic vascular system that consists of a lattice of sugar,with the goal of supporting larger tissue structures such as an artificial heart or liver. He has used these to model capillary vascular beds that can feed a 3-dimensional culture in the same way that blood vessels feed a tissue,as well as other luminal tissues such as bile ducts. [16] He has used these vascular models to study cellular interactions with vasculature,most notably in cancer. [17]
Chen’s scientific work has led to new insights in the biology of the blood vasculature. Chen published an article in 2016 about forces in vascular biology. His research concludes that there is a significant effect of environmental and cell-generated forces on endothelial behavior,and he proposed new concepts about endothelial force sensing and mechanical signaling. [18] In his own studies,he has reported on the importance of the physical properties of the extracellular matrix,cellular interactions with matrix and other cells,and mechanical forces in impacting how endothelial cells signal and organize to form vascular networks. [19] He discovered a role for tugging forces at cell-cell junctions and shear stresses of blood flow in regulating the barrier between blood and tissue compartments. [20] In addition to fundamental studies in vascular biology,Chen has also advanced numerous technologies to promote vascularization for treating ischemic diseases and engraftment of engineered tissues. He has shown that pre-templating vascular cords and channels within artificial grafts leads to rapid vascularization and perfusion of such grafts upon implantation. [21]
Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells,engineering,materials methods,and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore,maintain,improve,or replace different types of biological tissues. Tissue engineering often involves the use of cells placed on tissue scaffolds in the formation of new viable tissue for a medical purpose,but is not limited to applications involving cells and tissue scaffolds. While it was once categorized as a sub-field of biomaterials,having grown in scope and importance,it can is considered as a field of its own.
Embryoid bodies (EBs) are three-dimensional aggregates formed by pluripotent stem cells. These include embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)
Cadherins (named for "calcium-dependent adhesion") are cell adhesion molecules important in forming adherens junctions that let cells adhere to each other. Cadherins are a class of type-1 transmembrane proteins,and they depend on calcium (Ca2+) ions to function,hence their name. Cell-cell adhesion is mediated by extracellular cadherin domains,whereas the intracellular cytoplasmic tail associates with numerous adaptors and signaling proteins,collectively referred to as the cadherin adhesome.
Ali Khademhosseini is the CEO of the Terasaki Institute,non-profit research organization in Los Angeles,and Omeat Inc.,a cultivated-meat startup. Before taking his current CEO roles,he spent one year at Amazon Inc. Prior to that he was the Levi Knight chair and professor at the University of California-Los Angeles where he held a multi-departmental professorship in Bioengineering,Radiology,Chemical,and Biomolecular Engineering as well as the Director of Center for Minimally Invasive Therapeutics (C-MIT). From 2005 to 2017,he was a professor at Harvard Medical School,and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Kruppel-like factor 4 is a member of the KLF family of zinc finger transcription factors,which belongs to the relatively large family of SP1-like transcription factors. KLF4 is involved in the regulation of proliferation,differentiation,apoptosis and somatic cell reprogramming. Evidence also suggests that KLF4 is a tumor suppressor in certain cancers,including colorectal cancer. It has three C2H2-zinc fingers at its carboxyl terminus that are closely related to another KLF,KLF2. It has two nuclear localization sequences that signals it to localize to the nucleus. In embryonic stem cells (ESCs),KLF4 has been demonstrated to be a good indicator of stem-like capacity. It is suggested that the same is true in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).
CUB domain-containing protein 1 (CDCP1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CDCP1 gene. CDCP1 has also been designated as CD318 and Trask. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been reported.
Sangeeta N. Bhatia is an American biological engineer and the John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor at MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge,Massachusetts,United States. Bhatia's research investigates applications of micro- and nano-technology for tissue repair and regeneration. She applies ideas from computer technology and engineering to the design of miniaturized biomedical tools for the study and treatment of diseases,in particular liver disease,hepatitis,malaria and cancer.
An organ-on-a-chip (OOC) is a multi-channel 3-D microfluidic cell culture,integrated circuit (chip) that simulates the activities,mechanics and physiological response of an entire organ or an organ system. It constitutes the subject matter of significant biomedical engineering research,more precisely in bio-MEMS. The convergence of labs-on-chips (LOCs) and cell biology has permitted the study of human physiology in an organ-specific context. By acting as a more sophisticated in vitro approximation of complex tissues than standard cell culture,they provide the potential as an alternative to animal models for drug development and toxin testing.
Three dimensional (3D) bioprinting is the utilization of 3D printing–like techniques to combine cells,growth factors,bio-inks,and biomaterials to fabricate functional structures that were traditionally used for tissue engineering applications but in recent times have seen increased interest in other applications such as biosensing,and environmental remediation. Generally,3D bioprinting utilizes a layer-by-layer method to deposit materials known as bio-inks to create tissue-like structures that are later used in various medical and tissue engineering fields. 3D bioprinting covers a broad range of bioprinting techniques and biomaterials. Currently,bioprinting can be used to print tissue and organ models to help research drugs and potential treatments. Nonetheless,translation of bioprinted living cellular constructs into clinical application is met with several issues due to the complexity and cell number necessary to create functional organs. However,innovations span from bioprinting of extracellular matrix to mixing cells with hydrogels deposited layer by layer to produce the desired tissue. In addition,3D bioprinting has begun to incorporate the printing of scaffolds which can be used to regenerate joints and ligaments. Apart from these,3D bioprinting has recently been used in environmental remediation applications,including the fabrication of functional biofilms that host functional microorganisms that can facilitate pollutant removal.
The tumor microenvironment is a complex ecosystem surrounding a tumor,composed of cancer cells,stromal tissue and the extracellular matrix. Mutual interaction between cancer cells and the different components of the tumor microenvironment support its growth and invasion in healthy tissues which correlates with tumor resistance to current treatments and poor prognosis. The tumor microenvironment is in constant change because of the tumor's ability to influence the microenvironment by releasing extracellular signals,promoting tumor angiogenesis and inducing peripheral immune tolerance,while the immune cells in the microenvironment can affect the growth and evolution of cancerous cells.
Robert M. Nerem,often referred to as Bob Nerem,a member of the U. S. National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine,held the Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in Medicine and Institute Professor Emeritus at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he was an Emeritus Professor until his death.
A 3D cell culture is an artificially created environment in which biological cells are permitted to grow or interact with their surroundings in all three dimensions. Unlike 2D environments,a 3D cell culture allows cells in vitro to grow in all directions,similar to how they would in vivo. These three-dimensional cultures are usually grown in bioreactors,small capsules in which the cells can grow into spheroids,or 3D cell colonies. Approximately 300 spheroids are usually cultured per bioreactor.
The in vivo bioreactor is a tissue engineering paradigm that uses bioreactor methodology to grow neotissue in vivo that augments or replaces malfunctioning native tissue. Tissue engineering principles are used to construct a confined,artificial bioreactor space in vivo that hosts a tissue scaffold and key biomolecules necessary for neotissue growth. Said space often requires inoculation with pluripotent or specific stem cells to encourage initial growth,and access to a blood source. A blood source allows for recruitment of stem cells from the body alongside nutrient delivery for continual growth. This delivery of cells and nutrients to the bioreactor eventually results in the formation of a neotissue product.
Valerie Horsley is an American cell and developmental biologist. She currently works as an associate professor at Yale University,where she has extensively researched the growth,restoration,and maintenance of skin cells. She is a currently a member of the Yale Cancer Center and Yale Stem Cell Center. She received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2012 and in 2013 she was the recipient of the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award.
Antonios Georgios Mikos is a Greek-American biomedical engineer who is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He specialises in biomaterials,drug delivery,and tissue engineering.
Joyce Y. Wong is an American engineer who is Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University. Her research develops novel biomaterials for the early detection treatment of disease. Wong is the Inaugural Director of the Provost's Initiative to promote gender equality and inclusion in STEM at all levels:Advance,Recruit,Retain and Organize Women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Society.
Cheng-Ming Chuong is a Taiwanese-American biomedical scientist.
Milica Radisic is a Serbian Canadian tissue engineer,academic and researcher. She is a professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering,and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. She co-founded TARA Biosystems and is a senior scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute.
Erika Moore Taylor is a biomedical engineer,scientist,assistant professor,"Forbes 30 under 30 honoree," financial advisor,and the founder of a scholarship program that has been featured on CNBC.
Valerie M. Weaver is a professor and the director of the Center for Bioengineering and Tissue Regeneration in the department of surgery and co-director Bay Area Center for Physical Sciences and Oncology at the University of California San Francisco (USA). She has been working and leading oncology research for more than 20 years. Her scientific contributions have been recognised by different awards. She was the first woman to receive the Shu Chien Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society in 2022,which honours contributions in the cellular and molecular bioengineering field.
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