Biography

 

Prof. WANG trained and practiced dentistry (Sun Yat Sen University) before receiving her Doctoral Degree (University of Pittsburgh) and postdoctoral training (Stanford University). Prof. Wang and her team are focused on elucidating the contributions of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the stem cell microenvironment and applying such knowledge towards the engineering of novel biomaterials for musculoskeletal tissue repair.

 

 

Topic: New Developments in Musculoskeletal Repair

 

Organ-on-a-chip 
Organ-on-a-chip is a technology that uses microfabrication techniques to create miniaturized models of human organs which can potentially replace animals for disease modeling and drug screening. Prof. Chan Hon Fai will introduce the latest work on developing organ-on-a-chip models including muscle-on-a-chip.  
 
Translating decellularized extracellular matrix-centric biomaterials for clinical tendon repair 
Prof. Wang’s team has been working on extracellular matrix (ECM)-centric approaches to augment tendon regeneration. They have developed various clinically practical biomaterials, including a highly bioactive, tendon ECM hydrogel and a mechanically robust, ECM-functionalized polyurethane elastomer. These innovative efforts will advance the understanding and application of ECM-based technologies to assist in clinical tendon repair. 
 
Biomaterials for musculoskeletal repair 
Prof. Ker’s lab has developed photo-crosslinkable biomaterials for engineering devices for musculoskeletal tissue engineering and regeneration. He will briefly detail an example in which such biomaterials can be useful for ensuring effective surgical repair of tissues. This work showcases the mechanical advantage of photo-crosslinkable biomaterials and has potential applications in musculoskeletal therapeutics.