Grand Challenges in Materials Science: Innovators in Bioengineering Webinar

Summary

The webinar featured renowned innovators Molly Stevens and Ali Khadem Hosseini, discussing the grand challenges in biomaterials and their impact on therapeutics and bioengineering. They highlighted advancements in bioprinting, nanoparticle analysis with SPARTA technology, and the development of smart materials for regenerative medicine. The discussion underscored the importance of interdisciplinary research, sustainable practices, and the role of AI in material science, aiming to democratize healthcare innovations globally.

Takeaways

• 🌟 The webinar featured Molly Stevens and Ali Khadem Hosseini, two leading innovators in the field of biomaterials and bioengineering, discussing the grand challenges in material science and their impact on therapeutics and bioengineering.
• 📚 Molly Stevens is a professor at Imperial College London, known for her interdisciplinary research group focusing on regenerative medicine and biosensing, leveraging materials science for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and more.
• 🛠 Ali Khadem Hosseini is the CEO of the UCLA-affiliated Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, focusing on bioengineering solutions for precision medicine, including work on hydrogels, microphysiological systems, and lab-grown meats.
• 💡 The ACS Materials Gold journal, co-hosted by the webinar, aims to publish impactful research in materials science, ensuring global access to cutting-edge studies that can benefit a wide audience.
• 🔍 Stevens highlighted the importance of translating bioengineering innovations into safe and effective treatments, emphasizing the role of interdisciplinary collaboration and the incorporation of fundamental science into applied research.
• 🔬 The development of the SPARC technique (Single Particle Automated Raman Trapping Analysis) by Stevens' group allows for the study of individual nanoparticles, providing insights into their composition and function for therapeutic applications.
• 🌐 The webinar underscored the potential of using mobile phone technologies for democratizing healthcare, with examples of point-of-care tests that can detect diseases like HIV and Ebola, leveraging the widespread use of smartphones for diagnostics.
• 🧪 Hosseini discussed advances in bioprinting, emphasizing the creation of 'inks' that can be used to print with multiple cell types and materials, enabling the fabrication of complex tissue-like structures.
• 💊 The use of hydrogel microneedles for drug delivery was a key point, with Hosseini's group developing painless methods to deliver a variety of treatments through the skin for applications in cosmetic, diabetic, and cancer care.
• 🤖 The potential impact of AI and machine learning on the discovery and application of new biomaterials was acknowledged, with both speakers recognizing the growing role of these technologies in analyzing complex data sets and predicting material properties.
• 🌐 The discussion highlighted the importance of academic entrepreneurship and the translation of fundamental research into practical applications, with insights into the ecosystem and support needed to make this transition successfully.

Q & A

What is the purpose of ACS Materials Gold and JAX Gold journals?

ACS Materials Gold and JAX Gold are open access community journals launched by the American Chemical Society to provide a respected platform for publishing impactful research. They aim to conform to funding agency requirements and ensure global sharing of work, showcasing the best materials research and providing unrestricted access to cutting-edge research in the field.

Who is Stephanie Brock and what is her role in the webinar?

Stephanie Brock is a professor of chemistry at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She is also an associate editor of Chemistry Materials and the deputy editor of ACS Materials Gold. In the webinar, she serves as a co-host and introduces the speakers and their backgrounds.

What is the significance of Molly Stevens' research group?

Molly Stevens' research group is multi-disciplinary, focusing on solving key problems in regenerative medicine and biosensing. Their work spans various areas including drug delivery, bioactive materials, tissue engineering, and the interface between living and non-living matter. The group's innovative approaches have led to significant contributions in the field.

What is the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Smart Materials Hub and its role?

The UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Smart Materials Hub is a program that brings together expertise from 10 different UK universities to develop smart materials for regenerative medicine. Molly Stevens serves as the director of this hub, which aims to facilitate the translation of scientific materials into clinical applications.

What is the technique called SPARTA and how does it work?

SPARTA (Single Particle Automated Raman Trapping Analysis) is a technique invented in Molly Stevens' lab. It uses an optical trap to capture individual nanoparticles and measure their chemistry, allowing researchers to understand their composition and functionality at a single-particle level without needing to perform bulk measurements.

What is the importance of understanding single nanoparticles in therapeutics?

Understanding single nanoparticles is crucial for designing better therapeutic agents. It helps in optimizing the composition, size, and surface properties of nanoparticles, which can lead to improved drug delivery, enhanced therapeutic efficacy, and reduced side effects.

What is Ali Khadem Hosseini's background and his current role?

Ali Khadem Hosseini obtained his undergraduate and master's degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Toronto and a PhD in bioengineering from MIT. He is currently the CEO of the UCLA-affiliated Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation and is recognized worldwide as an innovator in bioengineering solutions for precision medicine.

How does Ali Khadem Hosseini's work focus on precision medicine?

Ali Khadem Hosseini's work focuses on developing personalized remedies for various disease states by closely collaborating with clinicians. His research aims to create practical and affordable solutions tailored to an individual's biomechanical and biochemical needs.

What are the challenges in material science that Ali Khadem Hosseini's research addresses?

Ali Khadem Hosseini's research addresses challenges in controlling cell behavior using material architecture and properties. His work includes developing materials for surgical applications, flexible electronics, sensors, and devices, as well as using materials in combination with cells for regenerative medicine and other applications.

What is the significance of the work on hydrogel microneedles for drug delivery?

Hydrogel microneedles offer a painless method for drug delivery through barriers like the skin. They can encapsulate various drugs, including hydrophobic ones, and deliver them directly to the target site, improving the efficacy and convenience of drug administration.

How does the use of AI and machine learning impact the discovery and application of new biomaterials?

AI and machine learning can significantly impact the discovery and application of new biomaterials by analyzing vast amounts of data to predict material properties, optimize material design, and understand complex biological interactions. This can accelerate the development of novel materials and their applications in medicine.

What are the key considerations for translating fundamental research into societal applications?

Key considerations include identifying impactful research areas, understanding the needs and challenges of the target application, and having an ecosystem that supports academic entrepreneurship. It also involves collaboration with industry partners, regulatory bodies, and clinical experts to ensure the practicality and safety of the developed materials and technologies.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Introduction to the Webinar and Speakers

The script opens with an introduction to a webinar focusing on biomaterials and regenerative medicine, featuring Molly Stevens and Ali Khadem Hosseini. Stephanie Brock, a professor of chemistry at Wayne State University and editor of ACS Materials Gold, welcomes the audience and sets the stage for the enlightening session. Rodney Priestley, from Princeton University and also an editor of JAX Gold, co-hosts the event. The webinar aims to discuss the grand challenges in material science and bioengineering, encouraging the use of the Q&A feature for audience interaction, and introduces Molly Stevens as the first speaker, highlighting her impressive academic and professional background.

05:01

🛠️ The Role of Bioengineering in Material Science Challenges

Molly Stevens discusses the intersection of bioengineering and material science, emphasizing the importance of innovation in therapeutics and biosensing. She outlines three key points: safe and effective translation of research, understanding single nanoparticles for better design, and democratizing access to healthcare innovations. Stevens highlights the multidisciplinary nature of her research group and the importance of integrating fundamental science into applied research. She also touches on the challenges of translating complex material systems into safe and cost-effective treatments, mentioning the UK Regenerative Medicine Program's Smart Materials Hub as a collaborative effort to address these issues.

10:05

🔬 Innovations in Single Particle Analysis with SPARTA

Stevens introduces SPARTA (Single Particle Automated Raman Trapping Analysis), a technique developed in her lab for analyzing individual nanoparticles. SPARTA uses an optical trap to capture and measure the chemistry of nanoparticles, allowing for a better understanding of their composition and functionalization. The technology enables researchers to study cargo loading, chemistry, and real-time dynamic reactions on the particle surface. Stevens showcases the use of SPARTA in distinguishing between different types of liposomes and polymersomes, monitoring chemical reactions, and identifying the source of exosomes, which has potential applications in diagnostics and therapeutics.

15:06

📲 Democratizing Healthcare Innovations with Mobile Technology

The discussion shifts to democratizing healthcare innovations, focusing on the use of mobile phones for early disease detection. Stevens points out the global disparity in access to healthcare facilities versus mobile phone coverage, particularly in low-income countries. She discusses the development of biosensors that can be read by mobile phones to enhance accessibility. The iSense center, which Stevens is involved with, works on ultra-sensitive biosensing for disease tracking. Examples provided include a point-of-care test for HIV detection using nanozymes and a test to distinguish between Ebola strains in survivors, both demonstrating the potential of mobile-integrated diagnostics.

20:07

🌟 Transition to Ali Khadem Hosseini's Presentation

The script transitions to the introduction of Ali Khadem Hosseini, highlighting his academic and professional achievements. After obtaining degrees from the University of Toronto and MIT, and working with Dr. Robert Langer, Hosseini joined Harvard Medical School and later moved to UCLA. He is recognized for his work in bioengineering solutions for precision medicine and is currently the CEO of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, focusing on translational research and entrepreneurship.

25:10

🧬 Advancing Precision Medicine with Bioengineering

Ali Khadem Hosseini discusses the role of bioengineering in precision medicine, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. His work involves developing personalized remedies that are practical and affordable. He outlines the diverse research areas at the Terasaki Institute, which include materials for surgical applications, devices with flexible electronics and sensors, and combining materials with cells for additional functionality. The institute also explores lab-grown meats and environmentally friendly alternatives to animal agriculture.

30:13

🩸 Multi-Material Bioprinting for Tissue Engineering

Hosseini delves into the specifics of bioprinting, a technique that places cells and materials in close proximity to allow cells to reorganize and mature. He discusses the development of various 'inks' for bioprinting, including photocrosslinkable gelatin and universal inks, which provide a blank slate for cell adhesion and organization. The use of microfluidic systems inspired by nature, such as a spider's ability to produce silk with unique properties, allows for the creation of complex structures with multiple materials and properties.

35:13

💊 Hydrogel Microneedles for Drug Delivery and Beyond

The presentation continues with the topic of hydrogel microneedles for painless drug delivery through the skin. Hosseini explains how hydrogels, typically not strong enough to penetrate the skin, can be lyophilized to acquire the necessary mechanical properties for use in microneedles. These microneedles can encapsulate a variety of drugs, including hydrophobic ones, through the use of cyclodextrin molecules. The technology has applications in gene and mRNA delivery, cell delivery for wound healing, and fluid extraction for analyzing interstitial fluid components.

40:14

🚀 Opportunities in Materials Integration for Precision Medicine

Hosseini concludes by emphasizing the opportunities for integrating materials into precision medical applications, showcasing examples in tissue engineering and devices. He highlights the potential for the next generation of tissue engineering, enabled by complex structure creation, and the use of engineered hydrogels in drug delivery applications. The presentation ends with a philosophical note, comparing the grand challenges in the field to an egg, from which a solution should emerge, symbolized by a bird.

45:15

🤝 Q&A Session and Closing Remarks

The script concludes with a Q&A session where both Molly Stevens and Ali Khadem Hosseini address questions from the audience. Topics discussed include the potential for high-throughput analysis with SPARTA, challenges in interfacial adhesion with multi-component materials, the current state of green synthesis of nanoparticles, and the impact of AI and machine learning on biomaterial discovery. The session ends with reflections on the academic landscape, the importance of translational research, and the role of entrepreneurship in bringing scientific innovations to society.

Keywords

💡Biomaterials

Biomaterials are materials designed to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose. In the video, biomaterials are central to the theme as they are being discussed in the context of innovations by Molly Stevens and Ali Khadem Hosseini, who are exploring their potential in regenerative medicine and therapeutics. Molly Stevens' group, for instance, uses biomaterials for drug delivery, tissue engineering, and biosensing.

💡Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine is a field that focuses on the repair, replacement, or regeneration of cells, tissues, or organs to restore functionality. In the video, Molly Stevens is introduced as a professor in this field, emphasizing her work on using biomaterials to regenerate musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and ocular tissues.

💡Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles are tiny particles between 1 and 100 nanometers in size and have applications in various fields, including medicine. Ali Khadem Hosseini discusses the use of nanoparticles for drug delivery and diagnostics, highlighting their importance in therapeutic applications and the development of new materials to improve their functionality.

💡Bioengineering

Bioengineering involves the application of engineering principles to biological systems or the creation of biological systems using engineering techniques. Both speakers are innovators in this field, working on the design and application of biomaterials for various medical and therapeutic uses.

💡SPARTA

SPARTA, which stands for Single Particle Automated Raman Trapping Analysis, is a technique invented in Molly Stevens' lab for studying nanoparticles at the individual level. The script mentions SPARTA as a method to understand the chemistry and functionality of nanoparticles, such as cargo loading and surface reactions.

💡Translational Research

Translational research is the process of applying insights from basic scientific research to develop new therapies, medical devices, or diagnostic tools. Molly Stevens discusses the importance of translating research into patient care through the UK Regenerative Medicine Program Smart Materials Hub, which she directs.

💡Machine Learning

Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence that enables computers to learn from and make decisions based on data. Ali Khadem Hosseini mentions the potential of machine learning in discovering new biomaterials and their applications in medicine, suggesting a future where AI could play a significant role in bioengineering.

💡Microfluidics

Microfluidics is the science of designing and manipulating small amounts of fluids at a microscale level. Ali Khadem Hosseini discusses the use of microfluidics in creating complex architectures for bioprinting, allowing for precise control over the placement of different materials within a 3D structure.

💡Hydrogels

Hydrogels are 3D networks of hydrophilic polymers that can absorb large amounts of water. In the script, Ali Khadem Hosseini talks about using hydrogels in the development of microneedle arrays for drug delivery and other biomedical applications.

💡Lab-on-a-Chip

Lab-on-a-Chip refers to the integration of various laboratory functions onto a single microchip. Ali Khadem Hosseini mentions the use of microphysiological systems, which are a type of Lab-on-a-Chip, for creating models that mimic biological processes for research and drug testing.

💡Democratization of Healthcare

The democratization of healthcare refers to making healthcare innovations accessible to a broader population, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographic location. Molly Stevens discusses the importance of designing technologies with this in mind, to ensure that they can benefit the most people possible, including the development of diagnostic tools that can be read by mobile phones.

Highlights

Introduction of the webinar on grand challenges in material science and bioengineering, hosted by ACS Materials Gold and JAX Gold.

Molly Stevens and Ali Khadem Hosseini's discussion on the role of biomaterials in regenerative medicine and biosensing.

Molly Stevens' background and her work on multi-disciplinary research in bioengineering approaches for regenerative medicine.

Ali Khadem Hosseini's focus on precision medicine and the development of personalized remedies.

The importance of translational research in bioengineering and the challenges of moving from lab to clinical application.

Stevens' group's development of the SPARC technique for single particle analysis to understand nanoparticles better.

Hosseini's work on multifunctional materials and 3D printing for tissue engineering and drug delivery.

The potential of AI and machine learning in the discovery and application of new biomaterials.

The role of interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling key challenges in bioengineering research.

The significance of democratizing access to healthcare innovations, especially in low-income countries.

Stevens' leadership in the UK Regenerative Medicine Platform Smart Materials Hub and its impact on clinical trials.

Hosseini's establishment of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation and its focus on translation.

The use of bioprinting to create complex tissue-like structures for regenerative medicine.

The development of hydrogel microneedles for painless drug delivery and their potential applications.

The importance of green synthesis in nanomaterial development and the push for sustainable practices in science.

Insights on academic entrepreneurship and the translation of fundamental research into societal impact.

The closing thoughts on the future of bioengineering and the potential for integrated materials in precision medicine.

Transcripts

[Music]

okay

it's time to get started

i would like to thank you so much for

joining us for what promised to be an

enlightening hour with two stellar

innovators in biomaterials molly stevens

and ali khan

my name is stephanie brock and i'm a

professor of chemistry at wayne state

university in detroit michigan i'm also

an associate editor of chemistry

materials and the deputy editor of the

new gold open access community journal

acs materials gold

acs materials gold is one of nine

community journals recently launched by

the acs to ensure that you have the

opportunity to first of all publish in

respected and impactful journals while

conforming to any funding agency

requirements and second of all to share

your work globally ensuring anyone who

wants to read it can do so as such we

are committed to showcasing your best

work in materials research to the global

community and providing unrestricted

access to cutting-edge research at the

forefront of the discipline

i'm pleased to be co-hosting here today

with rodney priestley representing jax

gold rodney

excellent thank you good morning good

afternoon good evening from princeton my

name is rob priestley i'm also an

associate editor of jax gold i'm also

the dean of the graduate school and the

pomeran betty perry smith professor of

chemical and biological engineering at

princeton university

i'd like to welcome you to the grand

challenges in material science

innovators in bioengineering again

hosted by jax gold nacs materials gold

in brief jack's gold seeks to build upon

the greatest attributes of the journal

of the american chemical society

however jack's gold is open access

meaning that all articles are open to

the community despite subscription

status

we seek to publish articles in the broad

field of chemistry including new

materials development to advance

technologies and bioengineering

is why we are so excited to be

co-hosting this webinar and we certainly

hope that you will enjoy it

now before we get started i'd like to

remind

all of the uh members in attendance

to please use the q a function at the

bottom of the zoom to post your

questions

and we will ask questions after both

molly and ali have made their

presentations

it is now my distinct pleasure to

introduce the first speaker of this

grand challenges and materials webinar

molly stevens is professor of biomedical

materials in regenerative medicine in

the department of materials

and department of bioengineering and the

research director of biomedical

materials sciences at the institute of

biomedical engineering at imperial

college london

she joined imperial college in 2004 as a

lecturer

after post-doctoral training in the

laboratory of professor langer in

chemical engineering at mit

prior to that she graduated from bass

university with first class honors the

pharmaceutical sciences and was then

awarded a phd from the laboratory of

biophysics and surface analysis

from the university of nottingham in

2000

the stevens group is a

multi-disciplinary research group of

students post-docs and research fellows

they use innovative bioengineering

approaches to pursue their vision of

solving key problems in regenerative

medicine and biosensing their research

spans drug delivery

bioactive materials

tissue engineering biosensing materials

characterization

soft robotics and the interface between

living and non-living matter

professor stevens is a fellow of eight

uk societies including the royal society

and the royal academy of engineering

and in 2019 she was an elected foreign

member of the national academy of

engineering in the us

she holds numerous leadership positions

too many to name but i'll highlight a

few including director of the uk

regenerative medicine platform smart

materials hub

and is an editor of acs nano

professor stevenson has also been

recognized

quite extensively for her research

including 30 or more prestigious awards

including the act of biomaterial civil

medal and 2020 and the imperial college

president's award and medal for

outstanding research team

molly it is a pleasure to welcome you

the floor is now yours

thank you so much uh rodney and thanks

so much for uh

inviting me to this um

event i'm really really excited to be

here uh

and i guess uh

one of the the uh advantages of having

it virtual actually is we can have

people from all around the world

attending which is um

uh also great

so um

i've been uh asked to um speak a little

bit uh from a quite a personal

perspective about some of the uh

challenges that we're facing um in

material science and in particular how

innovations in bioengineering could

impact on those

um and my group

really is is pretty broad um and i

thought what i do today is focus on a

couple of examples of why this is

important in therapeutics and bio

sensing

and so i i've picked really just just

three kind of um points really that i

wanted to make uh in this talk and the

first one that i see is a sort of

challenge where we can impact through

through bioengineering and through new

material systems

is is really thinking about how we can

do very safe and effective translation

and so

really being able to impact on the

patient well-being

secondary i'll touch on uh in this

really brief talk is uh thinking about

how we can understand single

nanoparticles better because i think if

we can do that we can design that much

better and that's important for loads

and loads of different therapeutic

applications

and then third point which is something

that's really important to me is how can

we actually make technologies that can

benefit the most people possible so how

can we help

in thinking right from the start of the

design about how we're going to

democratize that access to the

healthcare innovation

so so this is my group you can see

they're really uh diverse in that they

come from all around the world but

actually they're very multidisciplinary

as well so even though i'm joined

between a materials department and a

bioengineering department we also have

lots of chemists in the group we have

surgeons in the group mathematicians

physicists

all those different backgrounds i think

are one of the things that enables

actually us to tackle key challenges in

research

the other the other thing that i think

is really important in making sure that

research can have really

good impact

is to make sure that we don't stray too

far from incorporating fundamental

science impacts into that research and

so within our group we work both on

fundamental science but also right

through to applied innovations

and if we think about therapeutics and

whether that's regenerative medicine or

just therapeutics more broadly there's

groups all around the world

working on repairing for example

different tissues and also tackling many

different

diseases

in our

group focuses mostly on the

musculoskeletal system and also

cardiovascular and the eye

but really a lot of the work we do

around materials platforms can be

applied to many different organ systems

um and one of the things particularly if

we look at regenerative medicine and one

of the things that materials scientists

like like people within my group but

also more broadly struggle with is is

thinking about how much complexity do

you encode into a material system

because you could start with a rather

simple system

uh but that might not provide enough

information for cells and you can

include more complexity but that might

make it more difficult to translate and

we have also

had some examples from within the field

of materials that have translated in in

slightly unsafe ways and so we want to

um really um be thinking about how

can we make the best possible

materials to regenerate the most

life-like tissue in the best possible

way

but in a way that's going to be cost

effective and also really safe for the

patient so that's quite a complicated

challenge to do particularly if you're

based within a university department and

so we bring on help to do that what

we've done in the uk is we've set up

this uk

regenerative medicine program

smart materials hub and that enables us

to bring

expertise from across 10 different

universities in the uk i'm currently

serving as the director of this

and we make different materials

whether we're using 3d printing

approaches which i know ali will talk a

little bit about later in this session

or gel type systems or gradient

materials or

indeed nano scale structured materials

all of these different material

structures we make but we also have set

up panels within this hub to bring on

regulatory experts and

safety and immunology experts and people

that can advise us around manufacturing

and so really thinking about how we

train our early career researchers from

being great scientists um right to

thinking about the target product

profiles of the kind of materials

they're going to end up using so that

these can translate and i'm really

delighted that the hub is involved now

in a number of human

setting up a number of human clinical

trials to

make sure that materials that are

designed with great science in mind also

make it through to helping patients

so

a second point i want to

mention is about

understanding single nanoparticles

better now why does this matter so you

can see here

a number of different nanoparticles that

are used um at the moment in lots of

research fields and also start to be to

be translated to the clinic

so you have for example viral vectors

you have

lipid based nanoparticles we have a few

of these now also

becoming really interesting candidates

for vaccines for example

and you also have tiny particles that

are released from cells these are called

exosomes all cells release these and

they're really interesting for therapy

but also for diagnosis

and then you can have other polymer

particles and really lots of different

types of nanoparticles available to

deliver therapeutics or to be used in

biosensing

and on the right you can just see

some of those particles that we've

been developing within our own group

just in the last couple of years i've

just put some very recent publications

to show that

this is an active area for us and so

with this being an active area one of

the frustrations we were getting was how

can you actually

study these particles better uh at the

single particle

excuse me level to understand for

example cargo loading or chemistry and

and really be able to design ultimately

these particles better and we were

quite frustrated

about not having a technique available

that could do this for us

and so we invented a technique within

our own lab

this is called sparta single particle

automated raman trapping analysis

and what sparta can do is it can use an

optical trap to trap an individual

nanoparticle and measure its chemistry

and so we can then learn about its

composition and how the particles

functionalized and we can correlate that

to the size of individual particles as

well so do a simultaneous size

measurements and even measure real-time

dynamic reactions on the surface

and this is all powered by our own

software and coding that we've written

um in an instrument that you can now use

at the touch of a button

and so this enables us essentially to

measure

chemistry within single particles that

you would never normally be able to

distinguish if you were performing a

bulk measurements and so you can really

pull out heterogeneity that you wouldn't

normally be able to and you can see what

the the prototype instrument looks like

in the the top right there but i'll just

show you a couple of things that we can

do with it um

so here we have on the top uh

row we have

two different types of liposomes some

deuterated ones and some non-deuterated

and you can look at a mixed population

of these with the sparta and without

having to label them or anything you can

pull out

[Music]

differences in their chemistry

and then at the bottom we have two

different types of polymersomes made

from polymer chains that are rather

similar except the blue one also

incorporates a heparin group and again

without having to label these you can

measure that mixed population and

distinguish between those two different

kinds of

particles

um

what we're showing

in this image here is how we can also

measure dynamic reactions

dynamic processes on individual

particles

which i think is really really exciting

um in terms of some of the things we can

now study using this approach

and the exemplar that i've shown here is

where we're trapping um

at the top left in panel a um an an

individual polystyrene particle and we

perform the first chemical reaction to

introduced an alkyl introduce an alkyne

group and this shows up with really nice

characteristic peak in the raman spectra

and then we can do a second reaction to

convert this to a triazole and so you

then see a decrease in the alkyne peak

and an increase in the triazole and you

can monitor that for individual

particles and really follow those

reactions

which is very

very exciting

[Music]

yes so

this is just showing you also how you

can

use sparta to identify um where exosomes

are coming from so these are these small

v-schools that are released from cells

they're also released from cancer cells

and actually know that their

biochemistry is different if they come

from a cancer cell or from a healthy

cell

and so it's really

interesting to be able to trap these

with the sparta and analyze their

chemical composition and we've done this

for many different types of exosomes

from different types of cancers

versus healthy cells and also cancers

that have a particular drug resistance

for example

and this has recently been published

in this acs uh journal acs nano in fact

um and you can get down to about 95

sensitivity and specificity so this is

interesting in terms of diagnosis but

also potentially because people are

really interested in using these

exosomes

for therapy because they can contain

really interesting biological

information to help in signaling within

cells

and then final

example i'm going to show you for sparta

is this one here which has just been um

accepted

so this has just appeared um online

and this is where we can use spa to

trap

lipid nanoparticles

and this is really interesting because

these um including uh in some of the

covid vaccines are emerging it's really

uh interesting uh new um

or at least newly uh applied in the

clinic um nanoparticle systems

um and there's still a need really to

understand how the composition of these

relates to their function uh in vivo so

we can do even better design

and so what we did in this study here

was to look at lipid nanoparticles that

had different

compositions

and also to look at their interaction

with an enzyme called phospholipase d

and that's interesting because

phospholipase d is um uh

produced with it within the body uh also

in particular sites and in relation to

particular uh diseases and so we can

start to understand how these kind of

particles that would have a biological

function in the body would be affected

by this enzyme and actually monitor that

in real time

and see how the lipids on these

particles are converted in this case

from dopc to

dopa

um so if you're interested in that sort

of field um this is yeah very recently

um published work

and and so we see this kind of

technology actually being really

transformative for the way that you can

study

nanoparticles that are going to be used

in therapy um it could be used early in

formulation development but also

throughout the manufacturing process

development and ultimately also within

manufacturing quality control

so very last thing that i want to touch

on just in a a couple of minutes is

democratization of access to healthcare

innovations

now

access to innovations that can tell us

about early disease detection are

important for pretty much every disease

so from cancers to heart disease to

viruses and antimicrobial resistance

and we can use nanoparticles in the

context of biosensing we do a lot of

work on this and we particularly think

about how we functionalize the surface

of these

biomarker

nanoparticles

and

we really want to

be able to have these technologies have

the most impact possible across the

world and infectious disease actually is

really disproportionately affecting um

low-income countries at the moment as

i'm sure you'll be aware

and so one of the ways

uh one of the challenges the challenge

is uh this um sort of unfairness really

of the way that technologies are

deployed across the world but the

kind of innovation that can help with

that is thinking about how we can also

use technologies that can be read

by mobile phones

and this is because um

there's about seven billion uh global

mobile

phone subscriptions now is really a very

interesting way of thinking about how we

can connect and empower people across

the world

you can see here from

our recent

nature paper that we looked at growing

smartphone adoption across the world

um and uh

as you'll

know uh the the number of smartphones

available are increasing across the

world but actually also in sub-saharan

africa and it's not just the number of

phones it's also the quality of those

phones and how well they can take

photographs

[Music]

and so we looked for example here at

this study

in

looking at data from uganda

at how easy it was for people to get

access to a healthcare facility versus

to mobile phone coverage and not

surprisingly you're going to be able to

access far more people

and bring technology to them if that

technology can be read by mobile phone

out in the community rather than need to

be done in a more centralized healthcare

facility so it can really help us with

access

of democratization of access to

healthcare

and we've set up this center called

isense that looks right at tracking of

diseases this is led by uh professor

inger malcox

ultra sensitive biosensing and

integration into online care pathways

i'm currently the deputy director of

that center and i'm just going to show

you just two examples of how we've

applied this

one is to detect hiv very early on and

to do that you need to detect the virus

itself in this case

protein from the virus called p24

we use state-of-the-art nanoparticles

that we develop um in my lab that have a

gold core and a porous platinum shell

and these can act essentially as

artificial a bit like artificial enzymes

they're called nanozymes and they can

create this really vibrant color when

you add some chemicals to them

or dark color i should say when you add

some chemicals to them and you can

functionalize them with antibodies that

will recognize that p24 and we then have

a separate tiny uh binder called the

nanobody that has a biotin group on it

and that can also bind to p24 so when

you mix these together and then you run

them up a test strip so this is like a

lateral flow test like you'll have seen

for the covid lateral flow test

um that biotin binds very quickly to

streptavidin at the surface and we can

then capture those nanoparticles add the

chemicals and actually get a hundred

fold amplification so this is a hundred

fold better than the gold nanoparticle

based lateral flow tests and actually at

the time we published this back in 2018

was the

most sensitive point of care

test that had been developed for hiv and

you can see it gets right into that

acute stage

so we're working closely with partners

in africa to look at how we can

deploy these technologies and this video

will just show you um you know these are

some of the readers that have been made

by the mckendree group in license where

you can essentially take

tests um put them in with these facial

markers take photographs of them get

really robust output and then we can

create again within our sense these data

dashboards that look at mapping of

uh technology so that we can get people

quickly into online care um pathways

and then very final um slide that i want

to show you just to be respectful of the

the time that i've been allocated is

this one here

which is um

where we developed a point of care test

that could

distinguish between three

different strains of ebola

in survivors of ebola so this is looking

at serological surveillance so looking

at the antibodies

produced by the patients

and we took this out to uganda this is

again um

back a few years ago now so kind of

pre-pandemic

and um

or pre-covered pandemic i should say uh

and you can see the um

the mapping here um within about a

hundred looked at about a hundred

survivors here and could just

distinguish really well uh between them

and also do a geotagged mapping of of

where they were

located and

i'm just so delighted really to see how

um this kind of approach and technology

has now become much more routine uh with

the current pandemic because i i think

it's so incredibly important in terms of

being able to track infectious disease

spread and to much better control

the

um

the way that we respond to that as we've

seen so it's it's wonderful

to see more and more people now adopting

these kind of

approaches

and i'll um stop there and just again

thank my group and collaborators and

also

all of you for the opportunity to talk

to you today thank you

[Music]

thank you molly um it's really exciting

to see how we can sort of exploit uh

some of these new technologies um that

you've developed with with uh robust

cell phone technologies um to really

sort of globalize uh the impact of the

of the work that's being done thank you

very much

at this time i would like to take a

moment to introduce our second speaker

ali khadem hosseini dr karem hosseini

obtained his undergraduate and master's

degrees in chemical engineering from the

university of toronto

uh he went to mit and also worked with

dr langer where he secured a phd degree

in bioengineering in 2005.

basically immediately after he was

snapped up at harvard medical school so

he didn't have to go very far with

additional appointments at harvard mit's

division of health sciences and

technology brigham and women's hospital

and the vice institute for biologically

inspired engineering

in 2017 he was lured across the country

to ucla as the levi knight professor of

bioengineering chemical engineering and

radiology and he founded and served as

director of the center for minimally

invasive therapeutics

presently dr karmuseni is the ceo of the

ucla-affiliated terasaki institute for

biomedical innovation

dr katherine husseini is recognized

worldwide as an innovator in

bioengineering solutions to precision

medicine he does this by working closely

with clinicians who are patient facing

in order to develop personalized

remedies that are both practical and

affordable to a variety of

disease states so that echoes some of

the some of the work that molly is doing

in terms of democratization

in the interest of time i will not go

through the 60 plus major awards that

he's received in acknowledgement of his

achievements but we'll point out that he

is perpetually on thomson reuters list

of highly cited researchers and the

world's most influential minds

ali thanks again for joining us the

floor is yours

thank you very much dr brock uh and

thank you everyone really appreciate the

opportunity for um presenting some of

our work particularly in what i see as

some of the grand challenges in material

science as it pertains to applications

related to tissue engineering and drug

delivery

these are my conflicts of interest and

as molly mentioned we have we have a lot

of um

we have a lot of interdisciplinary work

in our lab and uh at the institute um so

this is a typical um

typical meeting that we have and uh you

can kind of just see from the

uh from the close that we have a lot of

different backgrounds of course we have

clinicians and scientists whether

they're chemists or physicists um as

well as

as well as many other uh types of folks

engineers of different sorts um and um

and i i think that we're uh where we're

really benefit is having this

interdisciplinary interactions um to

address a range of problems and um and

similar to molly's our group is also uh

very international um from all over the

place and we are we pride ourselves um a

lot based on that diversity uh before i

start i also like to thank our funding

sources and encourage every guy everyone

to

connect with us through different uh

sorts of platforms whether it's twitter

or or

etc

um so the institute that i'm currently

running is uh is an institute that's

located in los angeles uh which is a

beautiful area this is our third

building which is going to be up and

running in the next few months and

really the focus of the institute is

translation and our pet peeve is to

become the world's best place for

academic entrepreneurs so really

focusing on trying to uh develop

technologies that can be translated into

companies that actually have impact in

human life

one of the things that um

we we are

we do is a very diverse area of research

all related to materials and

using materials to to

really push forward a lot of different

applications and these are

from areas related to making materials

that can be used for

surgical applications and different

types of medical

types of

materials

and these materials are designed to

tailor to an individual's need whether

that's a biomechanical or a biochemical

um

stimuli and become um

to some degree responsive to what that

individual needs we also work a lot on

another aspect of materials which is

really using materials for devices and

using things like flexible electronics

and sensors to enable advances to

existing medical uh devices whether they

would be wound healing

patches or catheters or other types of

things we combine these different

materials with cells particularly immune

cells and stem cells that can be used to

add additional functionality and we use

these types of technologies in different

test beds whether they're in making

different types of implants or tissues

for um for patients as needed

being able to make different sorts of

lab on a chip organonic chip models or

what we call microphysiological systems

as well as something that i've become

particularly interested in is using

these sorts of technologies for um

nutrition applications things like using

these techniques for making lab-grown uh

meats as well as other sorts of uh more

environmentally friendly alternatives to

animal agriculture

so um

what i'm gonna quickly talk about is

one of the challenges which is i see

that ability to use materials

in

controlling cell behavior and

by doing that being able to use the

architecture of the materials as well as

its um its chemical uh and biological

properties so over the years we've been

very much interested in this

architecture whether this that would be

through making porous scaffolds or

lithographic and micro

engineering approaches fluidics systems

to make um structures fibers and stealth

assembly but over over the past few

years really bio printing has taken

taken off and has become a particularly

uh a useful approach to do this

when it comes to bioprinting i think

what i want to mention is that

bioprinting is a approach where we put

the cells and materials in close

proximity to each other we actually

print them so that they can actually the

cells can actually do the rest of the

work so

what the goal is to not necessarily make

the tissue at time zero but allow the

cells to reorganize and become more

mature and functional

through this process and be able to make

tissues that are more and more like

real tissue architectures

so we worked on a couple different areas

here one is actually the materials the

inks that are used to

make this process more efficient and

effective and there's a variety of

different materials that we've been

working on um

all of them involve to some degree

hydrogen materials these are hydrated

polymers

um and what we see

for example is we can make

inks that are to some degree very simple

but act as a very powerful

baseline to be able to have cells

reorganize their environments so these

materials for example photocrossing

cable gelatin are now very widely used

because of its ability to provide a

blank slate that the cells can degrade

and um actually they can adhere to

the other thing um

is to use um techniques like um

universal inks these are inks that can

be printed with many different types of

printers and allows us to again have

this diverse ability to control the

material properties and other types of

inks that are conductive or oxygen

generating so that we can actually

control uh different aspects of material

properties

now what i've told you so far are

basically one category of

inks and typically bio printers or 3d

printers in general are designed to

print one material

and if you're trying to make more

more complex structures you have to have

multiple nozzles typically which makes

it a lot more complex

a few years ago we started to think

about these processes and we were bio um

we got uh bio inspired by uh looking at

how nature generates complexity in the

tissues that it's it's generating any

materials that it's making so for

example one of the fascinating things is

a spider and how it can basically take

uh the components of different glands

that it has in its back

and be able to spin out

basically a silk of a unique property

that it wants

we can get this inspiration and build

microfluidic systems that mimic this

for example here being able to make

these

channels which are all um pneumatically

controlled with a

computer controlled system

and based on which of these materials

are being expressed based on which

channels are open we can start

controlling what

materials are expressed and be able to

have lots of control over the

these types of systems

so just to

give you an example if you have like

three different materials with um red

green and blue inside them and you open

them sequentially then all of these will

be open in the same region of the fiber

if you if you open them all

simultaneously then they all will be

expressed in the same region so by doing

this you can now start making lots of

controlled architectures you can um get

more um

deep in your engineering you can by

having the same channels but having

different flow regimes you can change

not only the chemical composition but

also the topography

of these structures you can make

layers or systems that have controlled

architectures and even have multi-phase

systems where you can have air bubbles

oil droplets or even cells embedded in

these architectures

so one of the things we're very much

interested is to actually use this in

different applications and one of the

obvious ones is to be able to make these

um

fibers

embedded with cells of different kinds

and be able to use them in a minimally

invasive regenerative applications so

here for example

we can make these fibers so that they

have cells particularly in this case

this the core can have hepatocytes liver

cells and the shell here can have

support cells that which maintain the

functions of these liver cells and we

can

test these and we can deliver them

inside

inside different

cases through a pinhole um the other

thing we can do is actually have these

fibers be coded in a way that they can

control the surrounding biology here um

these fibers can release some particular

molecule that can be a chemoattractant

for example here to neutrophils

and many other sorts of things

and of course this doesn't take too much

now to take this and put it upstream

from bioprinters uh the nozzles and be

able to generate complexity so here

through a single nozzle you can have

multiple

different inlets which can have

different materials so you can build

these structures in a layer by layer

manner not just with particular

architecture but with particular

chemical or biological

composition as well

so we can actually add on to these types

of approaches here you can have

a printer with seven inlets

where in in this case you can actually

combine these different inlets in

different combinations whether they're

individual or binary or tertiary etc so

you can literally get hundreds and

thousands of combinations

through this simple process where you

can mix these

individual components and where you can

push this is actually now take these

types of technologies

and

build

more complex architectures out of them

here you can see some examples of where

we're heading where we're actually

trying to uh generate more complex

structures that can be down the road be

used for making more advanced biological

uh structures that can help the cells

reorganize themselves further

so what i've shown so far are basically

these um extrusion or nozzle based

printers but there's a whole category of

materials which are also more based on

light patterning or stereo orthographic

systems and we can use the same kind of

principles to make these materials these

printers also multi-material so here

what you can see is that

we can

pattern a light

in a particular shape onto a surface and

cross-link this material but

while we do that we can also change

the um the ink that is exposed to that

plane

so that once we have a particular shape

printed then we can bring in a second

ink and then be able to subsequently

make a second um

second material there with a different

composition

so by using this approach again we can

build in a layer by layer manner be able

to build the layer and then change the

material and then build um a second

layer and generate the same kind of

complex structures that i mentioned in

these 3d printers and where we think

this addresses a lot of challenges is

that when you're trying to build

particularly tissues

you need to build with a certain level

of complexity because you have different

cells and different materials and

different parts of the tissue so having

this kind of ability is going to be

really powerful for the next generation

of tissue engineering

the other thing that i want to quickly

talk about is how we can apply these

engineered hydrogels to

different types of drug delivery

applications and particularly i've

become very fascinated by

micro needle array technology because

they are painless ways of delivering

drugs through barriers like the skin

and by doing that they really allow us

to

address a lot of different challenges

everything from cosmetic and anti-aging

applications to things related to

diabetes care and many other sorts of

things

so when we think about these micro

needles they're typically made from

polymers that are not really hydrophilic

these are polymers that are often

degradable or on the other end they're

made from actual metallic components so

we've been interested in actually taking

this

existing tool set and bringing in a new

platform of hydrogels onto this so when

you think about hydrogels you don't

typically think of things that are

strong to penetrate the skin but what we

can do is that we can actually take

hydrogel

of different um

different types of gels like for example

photographical gelatins or pegs um be

able to mold them into the shape of

these micro needles and then we have

these micro needles that are basically

water swollen so normally they wouldn't

have the ability to penetrate the skin

but once we actually dry these or

lyophilize these um

then they actually get the the right

kind of

mechanical properties and we can

encapsulate many different things inside

them and they can

be used to penetrate the skin and

deliver their cargo

so here's some examples of these very

very

interesting hydrogel micro needles and

what you can see is that um they not

only have the right kind of um

architectures that we want but we can

put different types of drugs in them

these are some psychedelic drugs that

that some of our collaborators have been

interested in and we can take these

micro needle patches and

deliver them through different

epithelial tissues and when we actually

come in and

and

cross section these tissues we can see

where the tissue has been penetrated

and we can now start using them for

different applications of course when

you have hydrophilic drugs um or

or things that are can be immobilized

inside these hydrogels that's very easy

but there's also classes of hydrophobic

drugs that we want to incorporate so

there we can actually start making

different types of um

approaches in this case we can get

cyclodextrin molecules conjugate them to

our

our our background uh polymer and be

able to encapsulate drugs directly

inside them and i do apologize for the

background noise obviously my

four-year-old is

starting to learn how to sing so

yeah

um

so um

so what we can do with these now

polymers that have the ability to

encapsulate hydrophobic drugs is to also

um encapsulate them um inside these

molds and be able to make these micro

needles and here's a just a typical

example of a drug that's very

hydrophobic called curcumin and we can

actually take um these drugs

encapsulated inside these

hydrogel microneedles and then be able

to uh use it in a

sample tumor example where we can

actually

look at different controls when we have

nothing inside the micro needle where we

have just a plain sheet without the

micro needles or when we actually have

the micro needles it's the only case

that we can actually get cell death in

this tumor models

there's other types of applications we

can do and um examples of them include

being able to add a lot of

gene and gene delivery or

micro mrna

aspects and these are some other

capability which is very important um

and here we can do the same thing to be

able to deliver genes to um to different

cells um inside this um

models and again the very um powerful

examples here where we don't get

any um delivery using the um using

um other types of controls but when we

have the

the dna with the um the

cationic delivery mechanism and the

micro needle you start getting um

expression of this um

green protein

green fluorescent protein gene

and there's just want to give one quick

example at the end one is that we want

to be able to deliver other things other

than drugs and this is one approach

where we can actually deliver cells

using micro needles again because we

have hydrophilic

components in this case we can actually

encapsulate the cells inside the gel

keep the gel hydrated for the entire

process

coated with a thin layer of plga which

allows it to maintain its strength and

penetrate the skin

and then once the cells are delivered

then we can remove the back substrate

here and have the cells

get penetrated into the skin and these

are some examples showing that we can

actually deliver cells that can secrete

vegf and in this case when we have a

injury model

we can actually have

these cells

which are here be able to kind of have

significantly better outcomes

compared to all the other controls where

you don't have the cells or or other

types of controls and these are just

other biological characterizations for

this

uh we can use these also for fluid

extraction

be able to put these inside the skin and

then sample different types of

interstitial fluid components

and here we demonstrate that we can

because these are dried gels they can

wick up a solution from underneath the

skin without any pain

and we can take these samples

and extract the fluid from them and then

be able to actually use these to sample

everything from glucose to different

types of proteomics on to

antibiotics like vancomycin etc and then

be able to um analyze the interstitial

fluid and be able to actually sense

these different ingredients and to be

able to compare how their

blood versus

intercessional fluid samples are so with

that i want to end the talk and just

look back and we say that we do think

that there is a lot of opportunity to

integrate materials

into precision

medical applications and i've given some

examples in making tissues

and also

devices aspect there's a lot of other

applications here as well so with that

i'll just end off with this

picture which is a um i think is really

uh awesome painting one of my favorite

uh it's a self-portrait of renee

magritte which is a painting or a

painter around the turn of last century

he's looking at the egg and is drawing

the bird and i think

a lot of the grand challenges that we're

talking about here and other forums we

should kind of

be looking at them as uh as the egg

because we should be able to find a

solution and then

have the bird that's emerging from it

thank you very much and thank you to the

organizers and molly and for your time

all right

thank you very much alex for the

wonderful presentation i'd like to

invite

molly to to join us well and so thank

you all for adhering to the time because

we did save um enough time for some

questions and because of the outstanding

presentations we did get quite a few

questions so we'll see which ones we

have the time to go through and so i'll

start um with you molly first some a

question that came in

um

with the the sparta it's an exciting

analytical tool enabling single particle

analysis

can you expand this tool to more high

throughput analysis of an entire

nanoparticle population

yeah

so um you definitely can so so the way

it works is we trap an individual single

nanoparticle um

and if we have a good uh trap we go on

to acquire a high signal to noise uh

acquisition of the data for that but

then we release it and then we trap

another particle and you can keep doing

that for hundreds of hundreds and

hundreds of particles so you can do

actually high throughput analysis but

with single particle resolution and i

um didn't go into that in my talk but

it's a great question yeah

excellent great and we'll rotate here so

now to to you ali um

the

the work on you know kind of

multifunctional materials and 3d

printing was really exciting but one of

the questions that came in is if you can

comment on maybe challenges around

interfacial adhesion when you have

multi-uh component materials

yeah so so um excellent question i think

there's definitely

aspects in material science that needs

to be optimized for anytime you want to

do something like this

for example if you print materials that

are inherently have different

viscosities or or

different hydrophobicity there's

optimization that needs to be made um

and similarly i think um if you're if

you're um not very careful with um how

your

hardware is then that adds additional

challenges so that there are some

optimization but i think the concept um

is broadly applicable

excellent great um

we'll zoom out a little bit

here molly a question for you

in terms of you could comment on

current state of the art of

green synthesis of nano materials and

nano particles where we currently are

um i mean i i think i think it's really

important in general and you know this

is something i was also quite involved

in when i was um

a president of the um

one of the divisions within the uk royal

society of chemistry

um you know thinking about how we can

make all of the science that we do uh

essentially more more sustainable and

you know thinking not only towards

circular economy but also

um

just just not not having too many side

effects right the kind of materials we

make um

so in general the the kind of materials

that we are working on uh

for most of our biosensing are

sort of less toxic and

also you only need a very tiny amount of

them within the biosensing tests um we

definitely have done work uh in the past

on

using for example quantum dots that have

different components so cad selenide

zinc sulfide for example which

you know would have a bit more uh

constraints uh around them but um

certainly the materials that we're

thinking

about um

for use in the point of care tests are

um

are pretty well suited actually for them

so great great uh zoom out a little bit

for you too as well ali one of the

questions was

with the emergence of ai and machine

learning how do you think that's going

to impact or change

um discovery and application of new

biomaterials

oh that's that's an excellent question

um so so there's obviously a lot of

interest in that space in the past few

years i you know i think as we start

really making new materials with

different um unique properties and

particularly for biobiological aspects

when there is lots of potential

opportunity to use different types of

chemistries and different types of

proteins i think having the ability to

use this um ai machine learning is gonna

be really important and i think it's

some really exact amazing examples of it

are the kind of work that you know david

baker is doing and some of the other

folks and and really

looking at protein chemistry and then

being able to start incorporating that

into building uh from from those

building blocks so i think it's it's

just uh beginning of something really

exciting

yeah i might i might jump in as well

okay um because i'm sure ali's seen this

too but um you know now all of the sort

of grant panels that i sit on and so on

almost well it's i'm sure it's not every

proposal but it seems like an awful lot

of the proposals are incorporating some

form of machine learning you know and

really interesting um

uh the the examples ali has already

mentioned but also people you know how

people are using ai to predict kind of

how

water repulsion might occur at different

biomaterial surfaces how proteins might

adhere

differently we we're using it quite a

lot

in our own research as well to

try and understand um data sets actually

really complex data sets if you do

biosensing in a target agnostic manner

for many many patients and you have huge

data sets how can you use

machine learning approaches to

deconvolute

basically the information that you want

to gain from those

systems and so

you know it is it is also the case that

with a lot of these machine learning

approaches um actually they've been

around a

a long time right they just used to be

called different things

and people have used gaussian processes

and so on for a really long time but but

really um

the data that you put into these things

is just as important as the actual

approach in many instances

excellent excellent so before we jump

into more technical questions i'll zoom

out even a little bit more i mean and

this question addressed that both of you

posted on you know outstanding

fundamental research but with huge

technological implications and you are

involved in the translation of that work

and molly you mentioned the consortium

with 10 plus institutions and ali right

now and you're at a private um

institution right now can you talk a

little bit about just the the academic

landscape and going from research to

innovation and entrepreneurship and how

you see that evolving and say the field

of biotechnology vital materials etc any

challenges or lessons you've learned

that you can share with the audience in

translating

basic fundamental research into actual

applications that can have an impact on

society

molly you go first okay yeah and then

i'll hand over

to some of the things you're doing at

terasaki um so um i'm i'm very actively

involved in translation and i'm also

been involved in the the founding of a

number of um companies um and

um so i i think it's hugely important

actually that the knowledge we take in

the lab we translate um

into things that can actually help

people and there's there's different

ways of doing that right so we've done

that within my own group we've done that

through founding of companies we've also

done it from large uh through large

industrial uh partnerships with large uh

companies and we also

are working really closely with

organizations like the gates foundation

to

um to kind of push some of that work uh

forwards uh as well i think in general

like this is not an easy thing to do and

so um it is really important to think

about the systems that you want to have

in place um one of the ways that i've

helped to

do this for my kind of wider community

is is as i mentioned by directing this

large

multi-university hub that brings on

those kind of external um

experts and there's different ways of

doing this but um i'll hand over to ali

as well because i'm actually on the

advisory board of his terasaki institute

and i think they also have a really

interesting model there so go for it

ellie

yeah thank you molly um so i think this

is really

uh something that i've been thinking

about for the past like 20 years just

being in bob langer's lab who's like the

pioneering um academic innovator i do

think that there are some uh

basic things to follow one is that

i think the the area that you're going

after is going to be really important

the kind of impact that you're going to

make is going to be based on the kind of

questions that you're trying to answer

and how impactful those solutions will

be um and then fundamentally the whole

academic entrepreneurship is something

that's we're not trained in so it does

take a long time to really understand um

and get educated and it took me 20 years

or i'm still learning to be honest um

but but the other thing is um having a

um

ecosystem that's um tailored for that

and supports that i think is really

important um the reason the terasaki

institute was formed was to really

enable that so we asked our faculty that

um listen you know innovation is our

mission so uh we don't ask you to teach

we don't ask you to to do many other

service types of things but in return we

want you to really just solve big

problems and be able to um

be involved in the process of taking it

on to the real world so so it is

something that is a new exercise in

academic entrepreneurship but i do think

that it's something that needs to be

done more and more um at uh across the

world really

great thanks for that and and

with that question we are

officially done with the q and a part of

this webinar so i'd like to now turn it

back over to my colleagues

thank you so much rodney

thank you for that really stimulating

discussion

i appreciate the fact that we had so

many people here

in the audience checking in from from

all over the world and just a lot of

real inspiration

from these talks

so i just want to thank again our

innovators in bioengineering uh molly

stevens and ali khadem hosseini for

sharing with us their thoughts on some

of these grand challenges

that particularly are facing

materials for for therapeutics i hope

that this webinar has inspired you

as as it has me and and really broadened

your perspective

of what uh what the future of medicine

looks like

i also hope

that

in your work

resulting in novel interesting new

um bioengineered materials that you will

consider jack's gold and acs materials

gold for your next best manuscript

thank you so much have a wonderful day

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