BME Seminar: Yupeng Chen
Monday, September 11, 2023 - 12:00 p.m.
Yupeng Chen
Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Connecticut
"Janus Base Nanomaterials for Drug Delivery and Regenerative Engineering"
Keating 103
Zoom link | Password: BearDown
Hosts: Dr. Mario Romero-Ortega and Dr. Shang Song
(Instructor permission required for enrolled students to attend via Zoom)
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting the Disability Resource Center at 621-3268 (V/TTY).
Abstract:
The emerging DNA nanotechnology has made a remarkable impact on tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug delivery, biosensors, etc. Janus base nanomaterials (JBNs), designed and developed by my lab, area new family of materials self-assembled from small-molecule units mimicking DNA base pairs. Unlike conventional DNA nanomaterials, JBNs are not restricted by the natural DNA structures, so they have great versatility to be engineered into different nanostructures for a broad range of applications. First of all, JBNs canco-assemble with extracellular matrix proteins to generate a solid and injectable scaffold (named Janus base nano-matrix or JBNm) to repair deep tissue injuries. For example, severe growth plate fracture is difficult to treat in the clinics and may cause disability. We have demonstrated that the injectable JBNm can successfully regenerate growth plate cartilage and repair the growth plate fracture in a preclinical animal model. Beyond the applications on Earth, we have pushed the boundary of tissue engineering and used the JBNm to regenerate a cartilage tissue construct on the International Space Station in space to overcome the impact of microgravity. Secondly, we have developed a Janus base nano-coating (JBNc) with unique properties: it was built on DNA-inspired biomolecules and presented excellent electrical conductivity (similar to carbon nanotubes). We have demonstrated that the JBNc can be used as a conductive coating on neural microelectrodes to provide excellent regenerative abilitypromoting bio-integration and neurogenesis. Thirdly, we have used the JBNs to form rod-shaped nanoparticles,named Janus base nanopieces or JBNps, which were specifically designed for the intracellular delivery of largemRNA such as the Cas9 mRNA for gene editing. The JBNps can be used as a powerful tool for cellular engineering and biotherapeutics. As a summary, the innovative JBN is a platform technology that can be used fora variety of biomedical applications and has great potential to be further explored.
Bio:
Dr. Yupeng Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of Connecticut. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and chemistry from Brown University. Dr. Chen has a long-term interest in designing and developing DNA-inspired Janus base nanomaterials for regenerative engineering applications. He is an inventor of 12 U.S. patents and 16 international patents related to the Janus base nanotechnology. Some of these patents have been successfully licensed to industry. To date, Dr. Chen has published one book, nine book chapters and 65 peer-reviewed publications. He and his lab have delivered 107 conference presentations and invited talks. Dr. Chen is a recipient of the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from NSF, the discovery award from DOD and the grand prize of the New Investigator Recognition Awards from the Orthopaedic Research Society (top one winner among 545 world-wide candidates). Dr. Chen has been elected as a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) as a recognition of his effort in translating scientific breakthroughs into real-life applications. Dr. Chen frequently serves as a reviewer on multiple NIH and NSF panels and conducts review and/or editorial work for 31 journals. Dr. Chen has received many competitive federal research grants from NIH, NSF, NASA, DOD and CASIS. Most recently, Dr. Chen has pushed the boundary of regenerative engineering research from Earth to space: Dr. Chen is funded to develop and evaluate Janus base nanomaterials on the International Space Station (ISS) for in-space tissue engineering, biofabrication, and biotherapeutics.