Symposium SB09—Genetically-Encoded and Bioinspired Materials Science

Living cells exhibit exquisite control over their molecular networks to detect environmental changes and to execute sophisticated commands. Bio-inspired or bio-integrated engineering of these cellular processes have enabled new avenues to manipulate the form and function of cells and tissue both ex vivo and in vivo. In this symposium, we will actively discuss how the convergence of materials science, synthetic biology, and bioengineering has facilitated the evolution of biomaterials from passive scaffolds to dynamic systems. We will focus on the materials design of bio-inspired, genetically-encoded and biomolecular materials and their application in mimicking and/or understanding living systems as well as in the development of new treatment concepts and therapeutics.

This symposium will be devoted to both fundamental research and applications of bio-inspired and genetically-encoded materials grouped into the following themes: tissue engineering, nanomedicine and bioelectronics. In the first theme on tissue engineering, we will cover topics on bioactive hydrogels, cellular bioprinting, and other materials approaches that incorporate biological matter and/or genetic engineering to assemble complex microenvironments for tissue modeling and regeneration. In the second theme on nanomedicine, we will focus on the molecular assembly of biomolecular (e.g. nucleic acids and proteins), nanoscale (e.g. viruses and exosomes), cellular or synthetic material to enable new therapeutic approaches. Finally, the bioelectronics theme will explore topics that include redox and conductive biomolecules as well as genetically-encoded reporters and actuators of cellular activity. This symposium will highlight multidisciplinary efforts to advance biomaterials research towards new approaches and solutions for precision medicine.

• Tissue engineering
• In situ tissue chemistry
• Organoids, spheroids and multicellular assembly
• Biomolecular self-assembly
• Nanomaterial-cellular interface
• Biorthogonal chemistry
• Supramolecular chemistry
• Bioelectronics
• Nanomedicine
• Synthetic Biology

• Kristi Anseth (University of Colorado Boulder, USA)
• David Baker (University of Washington, USA)
• Weibo Cai (University of Wisconsin, USA)
• Hongjie Dai (Stanford University, USA)
• Cole DeForest (University of Washington, USA)
• Nicholas Kotov (University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, USA)
• Steven Little (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
• Jia Liu (Harvard University, USA)
• Timothy Lu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• Nikhil Malvankar (Yale University, USA)
• Michael Mayer (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
• Adrianne Rosales (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)
• Samuel Stupp (Northwestern University, USA)
• Jerry Yang (University of California, San Diego, USA)
• Shu Yang (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
• Liangfang Zhang (University of California, San Diego, USA)