Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/19/2024
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Location
Communicore, C1-11
Research in our laboratory seeks to understand how cells interact with and respond to engineered tissue scaffolds and how this impacts tissue repair and regeneration. Key questions of interest include how cells sense mechanical information in their local environment and integrate this information with biochemical signals, and how to engineer cells and their ECM to create desired functional outputs. Our approach utilizes nanofabrication and additive manufacturing to fabricate three-dimensional microenvironments for bone, cartilage, and renal tissue regeneration. The ability to print hydrogels with stable structures has been a long-standing challenge in the field of additive manufacturing of polymeric tissue scaffolds. To address this issue, we utilized a low temperature 3-D printing process to fabricate hydrogel scaffolds with high resolution and interconnected porosity. The scaffolds were also found to support the viability of chondrocytes and synthesis of type II collagen. We will also discuss research on hybrid 3D scaffolds that provide inductive cues for stems cells to differentiate into an osteogenic lineage.
Bio:
Derrick Dean is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Coordinator of the Biomedical Engineering program at Alabama State University. He has led the program from its inception in 2016 to its current pursuit of ABET accreditation. Research in his laboratory seeks to understand how cells interact with and respond to engineered tissue scaffolds and how this impacts tissue repair and regeneration. He also studies the structure-processing-property relationships of multifunctional composite materials. He received a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as a BS and MS in Chemistry from Tuskegee University and was a distinguished graduate from the Air Force ROTC program. His awards include induction as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in March 2023; the Clark Way Harrison Endowed Professor at Washington University in St. Louis in 2018 and the Outstanding Scientist in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math at Alabama state University in 2017. Before joining ASU, he held joint appointments in the Materials and Biomedical Engineering departments at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While there, he received the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence. His other professional appointments include Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Tuskegee University, leader of the Polymer Physics team in the Advanced Technology Group at BF Goodrich in Brecksville, OH and Polymer Morphology Team Leader at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, OH.