清华大学材料科学与工程研究院《材料科学论坛》学术报告
报告时间：2026年3月16日下午16:00-17:30
报告人：Prof. Antonios G. Mikos（Rice University）
报告地点：清华大学建华楼A306会议室
邀请人：王秀梅老师
报告题目：Particulate Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering
报告简介：
Modular hydrogels have emerged as a powerful class of biomaterials for tissue engineering, offering injectability, compositional flexibility, and independently tunable biochemical and mechanical properties. By assembling nanoscale or microscale building blocks into macroscopic scaffolds, these systems provide precise control over cell-material interactions, degradation kinetics, and the presentation of bioactive cues. In our laboratory, we have developed extracellular matrix (ECM)-based particulate hydrogels derived from decellularized musculoskeletal tissues and examined how material parameters, including functionalization and crosslinking density, govern cell behavior and tissue regeneration. These ECM-derived systems overcome limitations of native matrices, such as inadequate mechanical and rheological performance, while preserving the instructive biological signals essential for tissue formation.
Beyond providing structural support, a central objective of modular hydrogels is the controlled delivery of biochemical signals that recapitulate the dynamic environment of developing tissues. Peptides are especially attractive in this context because they can mimic functional protein domains while offering synthetic versatility and stability. However, their small size and limited charge often lead to rapid diffusion from hydrophilic scaffolds, limiting sustained therapeutic presentation. To address this challenge, we developed a modular peptide delivery platform based on particulate gelatin hydrogels that harnesses electrostatic interactions to regulate loading and release. Through rational design of charged peptide domains that engage oppositely charged carriers, we enabled precise control over release kinetics and sustained presentation of soluble peptides in their native, free form for up to two weeks—eliminating the need for covalent tethering of the therapeutic sequence.
Collectively, these advances in ECM-derived particulate hydrogels and electrostatically controlled peptide delivery highlight the potential of modular hydrogel systems to integrate structural guidance with precisely regulated biochemical signaling. Such platforms offer broad promise for applications in bone and cartilage regeneration, as well as in advanced drug delivery strategies for tissue engineering.
报告人简介：
Antonios G. Mikos is the Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. His research focuses on the synthesis, processing, and evaluation of new biomaterials for use as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as carriers for controlled drug delivery, as non-viral vectors for gene therapy, and as platforms for disease modeling. His work has led to the development of novel orthopaedic, dental, cardiovascular, neurologic, and ophthalmologic biomaterials. Mikos is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Galicia, and the Academy of Athens. He has been recognized by various awards including the Jensen Tissue Engineering Award of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Global, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society-Americas, the Founders Award of the Society For Biomaterials, the Founders Award of the Controlled Release Society, the Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship Award of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Biomaterials Global Impact Award, and the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal. He is a Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Tissue Engineering.