Size Matters: Proving the case that sub-micron material properties can be used to control an array of stem cell responses
| Dates: | 4 March 2016 |
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| Times: | 13:00 - 14:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Faculty of Life Sciences |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Dr Judith Curran |
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We are an ageing population and there is an increasing demand for a better quality of life for longer. Realistically intervention therapies and novel materials used in the production of tissue and joint replacements, need to be manufactured more cost effectively and work significantly better and for longer if the fields of biomaterials and tissue engineering are to reach their full potential benefit to society. To achieve this we need to increase our understanding of how specific sub-micron material properties interact within the body and then exploit this knowledge to develop directly implantable materials/scaffolds that can induce a patient’s own cells (stem cells) to produce new tissue. These advances in material development will replace the need for expensive drug therapies and treatments that rely on the limited supply or autograft and allograft derived scaffolds.
It is now well known that cells and proteins can sense and respond to material and mechanical stimulus at the sub-micron scale. Here we present the latest advances in controlling the deposition of selected chemical groups on an array of clinically relevant materials and scaffolds and the associated enhanced control of protein and stem cell interactions. We will describe how data derived from model surfaces, chemical nanoarrays produced by Dip Pen Nanolithography (DPN) and Polymer Pen Lithography (PPL) has been translated into the successful production of novel coatings for orthopaedic devices. The development of these technologies to target nerve and cartilage repair, through control of initial stem cell interaction and material induced differentiation will be discussed. In addition the relationship between sub-micron material properties and protein/integrin section will be discussed in terms of stem/progenitor cell selection, isolation and expansion in vitro.
Speaker
Dr Judith Curran
Organisation: University of Liverpool
Travel and Contact Information
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Michael Smith Lecture Theatre
Michael Smith Building
Manchester
