Professor Dr. Katharina Maniura, Empa Biointerfaces, Switzerland

Instructive soft biomaterials for tissue response by design: steering events at the biointerface

Dynamic structural changes in cellular microenvironments are critical factors for development, tissue homeostasis, and disease progression. These changes are enabled by the mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and its susceptibility to cleavage by proteolytic enzymes such as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).

Instructive hydrogels allow living cells to interact with an ECM mimicking environment, which has demonstrated the great potential of hydrogels in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Medical challenges in numerous areas can be tackled through the smart design and engineering of hydrogel systems: from implant or deep wound related bacterial infections, tissue regeneration to advanced microphysiological in vitro models.

Different hydrogel-based strategies will be discussed