Samueli School Distinguished Lecture: Wendy Liu on Engineering Immunomodulatory Biomaterials

Calit2 Auditorium and Atrium
4 pm - Presentation 
5 pm - Reception

Abstract: The body's response to biomaterials remains a critical challenge for implanted medical devices.  Understanding this response and developing better biomaterials requires a multidisciplinary approach involving methods from materials engineering and biology. Our laboratory combines microscale technologies with techniques in cell and molecular biology to control the physical and chemical properties of biomaterials. We are interested in developing a better fundamental understanding of how material properties regulate immune cell function, and utilizing this knowledge to create improved materials for medical devices. In this talk, I will describe two primary areas in which we are currently focused. First, we are examining how physical features of the biomaterial surface influence immune cell function, and how these features might be leveraged to encourage immune-mediated wound healing. In a second approach, we are utilizing biomolecules expressed by host tissue to mask the biomaterial surface, and thus promote immune tolerance. Using these approaches, our ultimate goal is to create biomaterials that control local immune cells and thus mitigate the host response to implanted devices.

Bio: After earning her bachelor's degree in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT in 2000, Wendy Liu attended John Hopkins University where she obtained her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2007 as a National Science Fellow.  Her doctoral work was completed in the laboratory of Dr. Christopher Chen.  Following her Ph.D., Liu completed postdoctoral positions at Arsenal Medical Inc., a biomedical start-up company developing cardiovascular devices, and at MIT, where she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer. Liu is an assistant professor in the BME department at UCI.

Hosted by Lee Swindlehurst, Associate Dean of Research

Please RSVP to: engineering@uci.edu