Shaochen Chen, Ph.D. Professor of NanoEngineering and Bioengineering University of California, San Diego

 3D Bioprinting: An Enabling Technology for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

The goal of my laboratory is to develop micro- and nano-scale bioprinting techniques for the direct-write of 3D designer scaffolds used for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In this talk, I will present my laboratory’s recent research efforts in femtosecond laser nano-printing and rapid 3D bioprinting to create 3D scaffolds using a variety of biomaterials. These 3D biomaterials are functionalized with precise control of micro-architecture, mechanical (e.g. stiffness and Poisson’s ratio), chemical, and biological properties. Design, fabrication, and experimental results will be discussed. Such functional biomaterials allow us to investigate cell-microenvironment interactions at nano- and micro-scales in response to integrated physical and chemical stimuli. From these fundamental studies we can create both in vitro and in vivo tissue models for precision tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

BIO: Dr. Shaochen Chen is a Professor in the NanoEngineering Department and Bioengineering Department at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He co-directs the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Center at UCSD. Before joining UCSD, Dr. Chen had been a Professor and a Pearlie D. Henderson Centennial Endowed Faculty Fellow in Engineering in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin from 2001 to 2010. Between 2008 and 2010, he served as the Program Director for the Nanomanufacturing Program in the US National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Chen’s primary research interests include: biomaterials and bioprinting, stem cell and regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, laser and nanomanufacturing. Dr. Chen has published over 100 papers in top journals such as Nature Communications, Nature, Nature Materials, Nano Letters, Biomaterials, Advanced Materials, and 12 book/book chapters.

Among his numerous awards, Dr. Chen received the CAREER award from NSF, Young Investigator award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and Edward Nagy New Investigator Award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). As an active member in his professional community, Dr. Chen is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), and Fellow of the International Society for NanoManufacturing (ISNM).