Abstract
Through combination of novel microscopy protocols for imaging live cells and tissues as well as experimental mechanics methods, we have begun to elucidate mechanisms underpinning emergent properties of hierarchical materials such as tissues [1,2]. We refer to the process as Microscopy Aided Design And ManufacturE (MADAME) [3]. We apply this paired imaging and computational technology approach to engineer advanced materials that emulate the smart mechanical properties of tissues. These materials have applications in diverse arenas, from medical implants to the transport and sports industries. Our "bottom up" approach to emulate mechanically responsive natural materials integrates the fields of multiscale biomechanics and mechanobiology in novel ways and underscores the role of mechanics in life. It also elucidates how "brainless" cells adapt to dynamic mechanical environments by constantly weaving and thereby adapting their own niche [4]. In addition, our connectomics approach to understanding cell networks in situ, in tissues as diverse as brain and bone, provides a basis for a new approach to diagnostics, predicting emergent disease states using an epidemiological approach in cell populations within individual patients [5-7]. Challenges to the connectomics approach include acquisition, handling and archiving of massive data sets, discrepancies in technical capacities (e.g. resolution) of imaging methods, and hard and software approaches, as well as bridging and upskilling of research teams to apply a transdisciplinary approach using innovative conceptual, experimental, and translational approaches [7]. This talk integrates our understanding of cells, expert tissue prototypers, and their networks, to emulating cellular approaches to engineer and manufacture tissues, materials and medical devices of the future.
[1] Knothe Tate ML (2017) Science/AAAS, https://www.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/Science_Booklet_SEM_Single_pages_Final.pdf
[2] Knothe Tate ML (2020) Frontiers Bioeng Biotechnol, https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2020.00845
[3] Sidler H-J et al. (2019) Frontiers Med | Translational Medicine, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2018.00348/full
[4] Putra VDL et al. (2020) Frontiers Cell Dev Biol, https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2019.00354
[5] Eberle A-L et al. J Microscopy (2015), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jmi.12224
[6] Knothe Tate ML et al. Adv Healthcare Mat (2016), https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adhm.201600026
[7] Ngo L et al. bio-protocols (2019) https://bio-protocol.org/e3298
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Keywords: Mechanical engineering, Additive manufacturing, Biomimicry and Fabrication, Biomaterials, Mechanoactive Materials, Fibre Technology, Advanced Imaging, Innovation, Interfaces – biological and engineered, Scaling up & Manufacturing, Systems Biology, Stem Cells, Translation and commercialisation, Trauma/surgery/rehabilitation
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Bio
Melissa Knothe Tate is the Inaugural Paul Trainor Chair and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at University of New South Wales. She is a global thought leader in healthcare innovation. Her R&D program is epitomized by its cross-cutting nature, where the fundamental laws of mechanics are applied to bio-logical/medical systems to elucidate and emulate emergent and smart properties. Knothe Tate is the recipient of more than 40 honours/awards including Engineers Australia Most Innovative Engineers, the Christopher Columbus Foundation - U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chairman's Distinguished Life Sciences Award, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Senior Research Fellowship, and ETH Zurich's Dipl. Ing. Georg Fischer Prize 1998 for most outstanding dissertation, across all departments of the university. She holds four U.S. patents and ten EU patents that have been licensed to three companies. She is the founder of a consulting company and three startup companies. She has published over 100 articles and peer-reviewed conference proceedings, one book, and eight book chapters, and serves on the editorial boards of journals such as Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering. Knothe Tate is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, and Engineers Australia. Her R&D group, the MechBio Team, has been supported through over $21M in international, national, regional, foundational and industry grants.
Hosts: Professors Iwona Jasiuk and Mariana Kersh
