Our research focus on developing advanced dynamic biomaterials mimicking extracellular matrix to understand how cells interact with their environment and to gain insight into the manipulating mechanism of cell functions.
In the current stage, we are particularly interested on two topics:
(1) User-programmable biomaterials for dynamic cell culture platforms
We develop new classes of user-programmable hydrogels with special emphasis on the use of multiple photochemical reactions that govern 4D material responsiveness, physicochemical tunability, and biophysical alterations, in an orthogonal manner.
(2) Molecular tools for cellular mechanosensing.
One of the central challenges in cellular mechanotransduction is the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that enable cells to modulate their mechanical responses and to sense and actively direct the biophysical properties of the ECM. To elucidate these fundamental mechanisms, cellular mechanotransduction should be studied at molecular levels. We develop molecular tools that can apply or detect forces at individual receptors within readily formed cell-ECM or cell-cell contacts.