Micro– & Nanotechnologies in Engineering Stem Cells & Tissues

Deok-Ho Kim, Ph.D.  
Assistant Professor
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington

Human tissues are intricate ensembles of cells of different types embedded in complex and well-defined structures of  the  extracellular  matrix  (ECM). However,  most  of  our  knowledge  about  cell  and  tissue  function  is  based  on  experimentation  with  cells  on  flat,  infinitely  rigid  surfaces  of the  tissue  culture  dishes  and  flasks.  In  this  talk,  I  will present   our   interdisciplinary   efforts   to   develop   micro/nanotechnology-enabled   biomimetic   approaches   for  controlling  cell-microenvironment  interactions  and  advanced  cell/tissue  engineering.    Inspired  by  ultrastructural  analysis  of  the  native  tissue  microenvironments,  I  will  particularly  focus  on  three  different  settings  in  normal  and  disease contexts, in which controlling cell material interactions on the nanoscale can have dramatic consequences: tumor cell invasion, stem cell engineering, and cardiac/skeletal muscle tissue engineering. As novel approaches to address  these  problems,  I  will  introduce  scalable,  nanotopographically-controlled  cell  culture  and  tissue  models  developed in our laboratory, including micro/nano-engineered stem cell niche environment, microfabricated tumor invasion  model,  and  tissue-engineered  cardiac  and  skeletal  muscle  patch.  Using  these  tools  in  combination  with  traditional  molecular  and  cell  biology  approaches,  I  will  highlight  how  these  biomimetic  tissue  models  enabled  by  micro and nanotechnologies help to gain better understanding of the structure-function relationship in engineered cells  and  tissues,  and  allow  us  to  establish  general  principles  for  development  of  more  precise  and  defined  scaffolds for advanced stem cell and tissue engineering.

Dr.  Deok‐Ho  Kim  is  currently  an  Assistant  Professor  in  the  Department  of  Bioengineering  at  the  University  of  Washington. He received the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine  in  2010.  From  March  2000  to  June  2005,  he  worked  as  a  Research  Scientist  at  the  Korea  Institute  of  Science and Technology (KIST), including his 7 months academic visit at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETH‐Zurich). His research interests include development and applications of advanced biomaterials and micro/nano-technologies  in  cell  mechanobiology,  stem  cells  and  tissue  engineering.  He  has  published  more  than  120 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications, 1
book, and 19 patents issued or pending in the areas of micro/nanotechnology, biomaterials, and tissue engineering. His papers have been cited > 2100 times in total (H-index: 26) and highlighted in Science Magazine, the JHU Gazette, the UW Today, and many newspapers. Among the  award  he  has  received  are  Samsung  Humantech  Thesis  Award  (2009),  the  Harold  M.  Weintraub  Award  in  Biological  Sciences  (2010),  Perkins  Coie  Award  for  Discovery  (2011),  American  Heart  Association  Scientist  Development  Award  (2012),  KSEA  Young  Investigator  Award  (2013),  Outstanding  Paper  Award  from  ASME  Congress on NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology (2013), and BMES-CMBE Rising Star Award (2013).  Dr. Kim is currently an Associate Editor for Biomedical Microdevices and IEEE Transactions on NanoBioscience, and serves  as  a  member  of  the  editorial  boards  of numerous journals  including  Scientific  Reports,  Theranostics,  International Journal of Nanomedicine, IET Nanobiotechnology, and Journal of Laboratory Automation.