Faculty Promotion

Han is promoted to Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering.  The full announcement can be found here.

2016 CRS Annual Meeting Abstract

Altug’s abstract entitled “Role of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts on Drug Response of Pancreatic Cancer Using Tumor-Microenvironment-on-Chip” is selected for a Research Highlight Talk at at the 43rd Annual Meeting & Exposition of the Controlled Release Society, July 17 – 20, 2016.   Congratulation, Altug!

2016 SB3C Abstract

Taylor’s abstract entitled “Adhesion and Invasion of Circulating Cancer Cells on Inflamed Endothelium” is accepted for a podium presentation at the 2016 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB3C2016).

Research Area: Cell-Fluid-Matrix Interactions

Biological tissues and engineered biomaterials consist of cell, porous extracellular matrix, and interstitial fluid filling the pores of the matrix.  Complex and highly dynamic interactions among these regulate various physiological and pathological processes in stromal tissues such as wound healing and cancer metastasis.  We are both experimentally and theoretically studying these biophysical interactions.

Research Area: Drug Delivery to Tumor

Chemotherapeutic drugs and drug delivery systems have to overcome complex transport barriers to reach targeted cancer cells.  These barriers are posed by chaotic and hostile tumor microenvironment.  We study the transport physics of small molecule drugs and nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems at tumor microenvironment.

Research Area: Tumor-Microenvironment-On-Chip

Advance of cancer treatment and personalized medicine depends on rapid and effective drug screening. In vitro assays currently used for this purpose can be convenient and high-throughput but the results are often not indicative of in vivo or clinical outcomes due to lack of culture settings specific to tumor microenvironment.  Although a small animal model …

Research Area: 3D Printing of Hydrogel-based Soft Materials

Recent developments of polymer sciences enable numerous novel materials whose properties can be designed and tailored for a wide variety of applications including tissue engineering, drug delivery, and energy storage and conversion. However, integrating these novel materials into 3D configurations with spatially varying functional properties is still extremely challenging.  We are currently studying the behavior of …

BiG Group Photo

Group website

Our new group website is now available at biotransportgroup.org.  The old website is still available but won’t be updated from April 1st, 2016.

Freezing-induced structural change of collagen is published at PLoS One.

Thermal Destabilization of Collagen Matrix Hierarchical Structure by Freeze/Thaw Altug Ozcelikkale, and Bumsoo Han Abstract:  This study aims to characterize and understand the effects of freezing on collagen structures and functionality. Specifically, thermodynamic destabilization of collagen at molecular- and fibril-levels by combination of low temperatures and freezing were experimentally characterized using modulated differential scanning calorimetry. …