Guest Speaker: Prof. Evelyn KF Yim
University Research Chair & Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Prof. Evelyn Yim received her Ph.D. in the Biomedical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University before performing undergoing her post-doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. Between 2007 and 2015 Evelyn worked in Singapore, where she held a joint appointment from the National University of Singapore, as faculty in the departments of Biomedical Engineering and Surgery, and the Mechanobiology Institute Singapore as a principle investigator studying how chemical and biomechanical cues influence stem cell behavior.
Prof. Yim joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2016. Experienced with nanofabrication technologies and stem cell culture, Prof. Yim and her group are interested to apply the knowledge biomaterial-stem cell interaction to direct stem cell differentiation and tissue regeneration for vascular and corneal regeneration applications.
Abstract
Biological cell niche comprises of biochemical and biophysical signals. An ideal scaffold for tissue engineering application should mimic the microenvironment and present the appropriate biochemical and biophysical cues such as topographies to regulate cellular responses. Our research group is interested in studying the interfacial interactions of cells with the extracellular substrate and how to apply this knowledge to stem cell differentiation and tissue engineering applications. In this presentation, nanotopography-regulation on adult stem cells and pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) will be presented as examples of applying nanotopography in stem cell differentiation. Examples of nanotopography-modulation on cell behaviors for applications in small diameter vascular grafts and corneal tissue engineering will also be discussed.
In attempt to understand the sensing mechanisms for nanotopography, we investigated the roles of focal adhesion signaling and cytoskeletal contractility in topography-induced differentiation. The potential mechanisms for topography-induced cell behavior will be discussed in the last part of the presentation.
