Speaker: Prof. Hala Zreiqat, University of Sydney The growing clinical need for synthetics that specifically enhance the repair of critical large bone defects and aged bone matched by the escalating demand for grafts, is driven largely by an ageing population whose natural regenerative responses are impaired. This presentation will describe the following: 1) our strategies in developing a platform of patented engineered nanostructured, 3D-printed biomaterials for cell-free personalised treatment to promoting bone healing in load bearing challenging situations. 2) our unique fabrication strategies that will enable customisation of the implant’s shape, size, structure and architecture to meet patient-specific requirements. Identification of the composition of bioceramics that achieves antibacterial effects 4) Our anti-senescence biomaterial approach for enhanced regeneration of aged bone. The role of cellular senescence will greatly contribute to the development of novel and effective therapeutic interventions for bone tissue repair and regeneration. Our technologies open avenues for skeletal and soft tissue regeneration in various clinical applications.

Speaker: Prof. Chih-Ting Lin, National Taiwan University Because of emerging Internet-of-Thing (IoT) frameworks, sensing technologies offering essential data for IoT have become an enabling technology to be developed. In general, the sensing targets can be categorized into chemical and physical sensing. Traditionally, micro physical sensors, such as accelerometer and gyroscopes, harness momentums of CMOS-fabrication technologies and promote developments of modernized autonomous and smart systems. On the other hand, chemical sensors, such as biosensors and environmental sensors, are still struggle with integrated technologies. To address this obstacle, in this talk, a series of field-effect chemical sensing technologies will be presented. Utilizing CMOS compatible field-effect devices, chemical sensors can be implemented and experimentally validated. Based on these works, the potential of CMOS integrated sensing module for next-generation life can be expected. Biography Chih-Ting Lin received the B.S. and the M.S. from National Taiwan University in 1996 and 1998, respectively. He also received the M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, in 2003 and 2006, respectively. From 2006, he has joined Graduate Institute of Electronics engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, where he is currently a professor. His research is mainly focus on heterogeneous integration and applications for More-thanMoore CMOS technologies. For instance, his current research interests include CMOScompatible sensing technologies, biosensor, low-dimension sensing materials, and solid-liquid interfacial characterizations.

Speaker: Prof. Dang Thuy Tram, Nanyang Technological University The interaction between immune system and material surface are governed by complex, dynamic interplay between cellular and biochemical signals with material surface characteristics. We are interested in dissecting how material properties such as surface charge and degradability influence the activity of early inflammatory markers in the host response to implanted biomaterials. This basic understanding of the immunological interaction between polymeric biomaterials and immune systems lays foundation for development of novel therapeutic delivery systems. Specifically, we leveraged the role of proteases as immunological cures to design and demonstrate quantitatively robust in vivo inflammation-activatable drug delivery in immuno-competent mice. Furthermore, our recent approaches focusing on designing hydrogel-based delivery systems for immuno-protection of cellular therapeutics in diabetes therapy will also be discussed.

Speaker: Prof. Debrupa Lahiri, IIT Roorkee Proper and functional neural regeneration in a challenging affair altogether and use of an inappropriate regenerating template often results in inefficient structural and functional regeneration of the injured nerve. Existing neural scaffolds have limited neuro-regeneration efficiency because of either the compromised electrical conductivity, or the lack of fibrous alignment in extracellular matrix components. The conductivity in the template should be highly directional and anisotropic in nature in order to let the regeneration take place with proper orientation of neural cells in the required direction. The utilization of electrical stimulation has demonstrated its efficacy in promoting neural regeneration and specifically directional neural regeneration. However, it is important to note that distinct patterns of stimuli propagation are necessary for the regeneration of cells in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. In order to achieve modulation of the propagation pattern, it is insufficient to rely solely on external means. Stimulation is also not very efficient through an insulating template. In our research group, we have worked around solutions related to neural tissue regeneration in different conditions. We have used templates of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, as 2D sheets or 3D fibrous structures, for this purpose. In order to provide directional and anisotropic conductivity to the scaffolds, we have used different carbon nanofillers, owing to their chemical compatibility in-vivo, alongside their high electrical conductivity. While highly anisotropic conductivity of carbon nanotubes has made them perfect for scaffolds aiming peripheral nerve regeneration, the graphene nanoplatelets, with their 2D conductivity, were found more suitable for central nervous tissue regeneration. In this presentation, an attempt has been made to give an overview of our research, focusing on the role of carbon nanostructures in neural regenerating templates.

Speaker: Prof. Sébastien Lecommandoux, Université de Bordeaux Our scientific approach is based on biomimicry, as we engineer synthetic mimics of natural macromolecules (such as proteins or glycoproteins), and explore their controlled and tunable self-assembly to form self-assembled structures similar to those found in nature (such as virus or cell membranes). In this context, we develop polymer-based self-assembled nanoparticles, mostly polymeric vesicles, also named polymersomes, with high loading content of active pharmaceutical ingredients (e.g., anticancer drugs, peptides, proteins) and targeting ability. Our expertise includes the synthesis of precise, biocompatible polymers such as polypeptides (by chemical synthesis or recombinant DNA technology), polysaccharides, and polypeptide-polysaccharide conjugates. We present here an overview of the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers developed in our laboratory, focusing polymersomes, and their contribution in nanomedicine. We pay particular attention to block copolymer vesicles based on polysaccharides, polypeptides and proteins and report here an overview on the design of Elastin Like Polypeptides (ELPs) based conjugates and their applications in nanomedicine, biomaterials and artificial cells. We pay special attention to their modification with saccharides, polysaccharides and lipids, aiming at mimicking both the structure and functionality of glycoproteins and lipoproteins. We developed synthetic strategies for the design of glycosylated polypeptides and polysaccharide-polypeptide biohybrids with controlled placement of sugar functionality. The ability of these systems for different biomedical applications, from drug-delivery to inhibitor, will be presented. In addition, the design of a new class of lipoproteins based on ELPs with unique thermo-responsive character will be proposed. These biosynthetic lipoproteins can self-assemble into lipopolymersomes, with tunable membrane permeability, opening avenues in drug delivery and artificial cell design. Finally, our most recent advances in the design of complex, compartmentalized and functional artificial cells will be presented. Such a system is a first step towards the challenge of structural cell mimicry and functionality, and could act in the future as an autonomous artificial cell capable of detecting and healing in situ any biological deregulation.

Speaker: Prof. Bikramjit Basu, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India Biomaterials science and biomedical engineering have sustained as one among frontier and growing areas of research and innovation within the engineering science community in the world; considering their impact on both personalized treatment and public healthcare. The potential economic and societal impact have driven significant research programs globally, over the last few decades. However, the outcome has not yet been too significant in India (and many developing nations), as more than 80% of the biomaterials and implants used in Indian hospitals are still imported from North America and Europe! Against this backdrop, I shall first mention the Indian landscape of research on Biomaterials Science and the recent efforts towards translational research involving clinicians and indigenous manufacturing of biomaterial implants in India, involving industries. An example of the clinical outcomes related to the personalized cranioplasty treatment of 20 patients in India will be presented. In the public healthcare space, I shall then highlight our understanding developed through manufacturing acetabular liners for total hip joint replacement and dental implants. An emphasis will be given to discussing the holistic cycle of the development of the high-quality, yet affordable implants, starting from conceiving a new design concept, to establishing the manufacturing scalability, to assessing the key performance in certified labs, and finally, to securing the regulatory approval for commercialization. This lecture will close by introducing a new concept, Biomaterialomics, which brings together Biomaterials and Data Science.

Speaker: Prof. Yu-Lin Wang, National Tsing Hua University, China Electric-double-layer (EDL) BioFETs with a separated gate design have been demonstrated to detect biomarkers in high ionic strength solutions, including serum, whole blood, urine, and saliva with less sample pretreatments, which save time and preserve the activity of biomolecules. A handheld device was developed to measure the real-time current of the BioFETs. The ease operation of the sensor measurements has made the idea of sample-to-answer realistic. Multiplex sensor arrays and handheld measurement devices were realized with the EDL BioFETs for personal healthcare such as the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease and the quick identification of infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and sepsis. In addition, the EDL BioFETs have also been utilized for monitoring heavy metal in river waters, fishes and plant extratcts. The sensors have also been used to monitor the change of transmembrane potential of cardiac myoblast (H9C2) cell line caused by the calcium ion channel blocker (Nifedipine), which demonstrated the EDL BioFETs as an effective drug screening platform. The EDL BioFET array integrated with microfluidic channels was also used to capture and count circulating tumor cells (CTCs). The theoretical model will also be presented for the EDL BioFETs to elucidate the detection mechanism of biomarkers and cellular responses.

Speaker: Dr. Avinash Bajaj, Regional Centre for Biotechnology Multiplecycles of chemotherapy is the most unavoidable treatment used for cancer patients in spite of the toxic effects caused by chemotherapeutic drugs. In spite of the engineering of large number of nanomaterials, few formulations have reached the clinic. Major reasons for poor clinical success of cancer nanomedicine is lack of in-depth understanding of the mechanism of these nanotherapeutics. In my talk, I will talk about two stories, where in first story I will describe our attempts to engineer non-toxic nanomicelles for delivery of combination of multiple drugs in murine models. We observed that these nanomicelles are more effective than clinical formulations, and are responsible for metabolic changes to execute their therapeutic effect. In second part of my talk, I will talk about how in-depth understanding of a localized hydrogel-implant based localized drug delivery system that target the tumor microenvironment via altering the metabolic changes. Finally, I would highlight the need to integrate cell metabolism with biomaterial science for future cancer therapeutic strategies.

Speaker: Prof. Muhammad Tarik Arafat, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Insufficient corneal penetration and quick washout reduce eye drop bioavailability, requiring repeated dosages. Most products designed to address these problems have complicated synthesis techniques. In this study, sodium alginate polymannuronate (SA) nanocarriers were prepared in a simple manner through ionotropic gelation. Defying the common beliefs, it revealed that M blocks can show ionic-crosslinking and excellent encapsulation efficiency (~89% Ciprofloxacin and ~96% Dexamethasone) due to self-assembly. This comprehensive analysis demonstrated how to modify the properties of M block SA nanoparticles by meticulously choosing the appropriate crosslinker type and concentration using Taguchi’s Design of Experiment highlighting their novel drug delivery behavior. Sustained and simultaneous release of the dual drug (2 days) was obtained with high mucoadhesivity ensuring better bioavailability than commercial eye drop. This biocompatible formulation cured the rabbit Uveitis models within only 3 days. To increase patient compatibility, the formulation was modified to form transparent and non-sticky nanosuspension using suitable surfactant mimicking human tear fluid behavior. The formulation demonstrates ~20% more mucoadhesive property than commercial eye drop. In vivo pre-clinical trials revealed that the nanosuspension starts showing effectiveness two days prior to marketed product. It is expected that this in-depth study will pave the way for future works using the nanocarriers.

Speaker: Prof. Sang-Woo Kim, Yonsei University As main topics, this presenter will report transcutaneous ultrasound energy harvesting using triboelectric technology. Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are designed to perform or augment the functions of existing organs by using monitoring, measuring, processing units, and the actuation control. Conventional IMDs are powered with primary batteries that require frequent surgeries for maintenance and replacement. Therefore, IMDs require a new reliable and safe powering system to avoid the need for frequent surgeries. Recently my group demonstrated that ultrasound was used to deliver mechanical energy through skin and liquids and demonstrated that a thin implantable vibrating triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) is able to effectively harvest it. Ultrasound TENG (US-TENG) was triggered with an applied 20-kHz ultrasound. As the second topic, the presenter will deal with our very recent demonstration of a commercial coin battery-sized high-performance inertia-driven TENG (I-TENG) based on body motion and gravity. In a preclinical test, we demonstrate that the encapsulated device successfully harvested energy using real-time output voltage data monitored via a Bluetooth low-energy information-transmitting system. Finally, the presenter will report a self-powered disinfection system for the rapid disinfection of air-transmitted bacteria and viruses based on a highly efficient nanowire-assisted electroporation mechanism powered by vibration-driven TENGs that harvest mechanical vibration energy.

Speaker: Prof. Biji Pullithadathil, Navami Sunil and Rajesh Unnathpadi, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore Lung carcinoma is one of the most lethal types of cancer worldwide, causing an estimated 1.6 million deaths according to the most recent WHO database. Due to extremely low rates of early detection, majority of patients are diagnosed only during advanced stages, and 5-year relative survival rate remains at only 18%, contributing to the high mortality rate of lung cancer. These statistics highlight the importance of more precise molecular staging of cancers making it critical to promote pre-diagnostic methods among general public since early detection is the hallmark of successful cancer treatment. Moreover, saliva contains valuable biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic potential, such as metabolic, inflammatory, proteomic, genomic, and microbial candidates which can be employed for non-invasive pre-diagnosis of lung cancer. Among them, Imidazole compounds are widely explored as a potential salivary biomarker for lung cancer diagnosis. Recently, our team have developed an effective pre-diagnostic screening tool for lung cancer by monitoring the anomalous concentrations of salivary imidazole compounds. The highly sensitive, non-invasive and label-free salivary SERS biosensor was based on carbon nanofibres with surface anchored bimetallic Ni@Ag core-shell nanoparticles (Ni@Ag/CNFs), fabricated using co-axial electrospinning followed by a two-step process consisting of chemical reduction and transmetallation process. The enhancement of the characteristic SERS spectra of imidazole compounds (Histidine, urocanic acid and Histamine) confirmed the possibility for the trace-level detection of the imidazole compounds in the clinically relevant range (0.2 mM – 0.5 mM) even in the complex real saliva sample matrix in the presence of Ni@Ag/CNFs based SERS substrate. The developed SERS salivary platform has the potential to be deployed as a non-invasive, cost-effective pre-diagnostic tool for early detection and mass screening of lung cancer.

Speaker: Prof. Debjani Paul, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Our research group uses microfluidic technology to probe the physical properties of red blood cells. The size, shape and stiffness of red blood cells (RBCs) change in different blood-related disorders such as malaria and sickle cell disease, and hence, can act as potential biomarkers. In the first part of the talk, I will describe a fast microfluidic technology to measure the Young’s modulus of single RBCs in a microfluidic device. We test this technology with healthy and stored RBCs as well as with RBCs from malaria-infected and sickle blood samples. The second part of my talk will touch upon the ShapeDx technology developed by our group to detect sickle cell disease at the point of care. The final goal of both these projects is to supplement the existing qualitative methods of disease detection with more quantitative ones.

Speaker: Prof. Matthew Becker, Duke University The emergence of advanced additive manufacturing hardware affords the ability to fabricate intricate, high resolution, and patient-specific polymeric implants. However, the availability of biocompatible resins with tunable resorption profiles remains a significant hurdle to clinical translation. In this presentation, I will outline our strategies for synthesizing highly functional oligomeric resins that can be photochemically printed into a variety of structures possessing unique mechanical, chemical and degradation properties. I will also describe their use in a number of pre-clinical applications.

Speaker: Prof. Jayanta Haldar, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) currently claims around seven hundred thousand lives annually and this is expected to rise to ten million by 2050 if not tackled immediately. India is one of the highest contributors to this staggering statistic. As arsenal of effective antibiotics dwindle, more and more effort are being focussed on the development of novel strategies to tackle drug resistant bacteria. This talk involves our efforts towards mitigation of problems created due to antimicrobial resistance and complex infections. The development of synthetic small molecular and macromolecular mimics of antimicrobial peptides targeting bacterial membrane as an alternative class of antibacterial agents will be discussed. The novel approaches to overcome acquired, intrinsic and adoptive bacterial resistance towards glycopeptides, via semisynthetic modifications of vancomycin will also be discussed. With the view of rehabilitation of the shelved out, inactive antibiotics, our lab is working on developing antibiotic adjuvants, i.e. agents which, when used in combination with the obsolete or ineffective antibiotic, will repurpose or reactivate the antibiotic against clinically relevant Gram-negative superbugs. Unlike the conventionally used antibiotics, our pre-clinical leads tackle acquired and adaptive forms of phenotypic resistance as well as biofilm with negligible propensity for resistance development. We have also contributed towards the development of multi-functional smart antimicrobial biomaterials, which can address the myriad of problems associated with complicated infections and deep-tissue injuries.

Speaker: Prof. Tim Albrecht, School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham Carrier-enhanced resistive-pulse sensing (CE-RPS) is a variation of conventional electric nanopore or nanopipette sensors, with significantly enhanced versatility and specificity. The “carrier” is typically double-stranded DNA, several kilo base pairs long, which has been functionalized with capture probes specific to proteomic or genetic biomarkers. Such probes include single-stranded DNA, antibodies, aptamers and others, which we have so far used to target genetic markers for antibiotic resistance in Tuberculosis as well as sepsis and inflammatory protein markers. The sensor distinguishes the state of the capture probes electrically (target bound vs. unbound), and hence in a label-free manner, and not only establishes the presence of the target, but also provides an estimate of their concentrations. The design of the carrier also offers additional opportunities: carriers with several identical capture probes may significantly improve the statistics of detection, while carriers with multiple different capture probes are geared towards multi-analyte, multiplexed detection. In my talk, I will touch upon several examples, but I will also make the case for a holistic approach towards CE-RPS, considering sample processing, electronics development, and advanced, AI-based methodologies for event (“anomaly”) detection.

Speaker: Dr. Vijay Vannaladsaysy, National University of Laos, Vientiane, Laos. Tissue engineering scaffolds have extensively been used in a variety of biomaterials that can potentially biomimic extracellular matrix (ECM) for tissue and organs. The numerous approaches for producing natural and synthetic scaffolds that support the proliferation of cells growth and have many potential applications in vitro and in vivo. Biodegradable synthetic polymers such as poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) are frequently used in the preparation of porous scaffolds. A reinforcing composite scaffold was fabricated using the freeze-drying technique by embedding porous PCL core within collagen shell. Microstructure and mechanical properties of the scaffolds were investigated. It was found that the composite scaffold possessed an appropriate mechanical property, which was greater than that of pure collagen scaffold, which could be potential factors in ligament tissue engineering. The waste of lupine-hull derived cellular-structure scaffold was investigated for its chemical bioactive compounds and mechanical property. The effect of lupine-hulls soluble compound on the Sca-1pos was identified by MTT assay cells proliferation. The cells lines were able to proliferate and retain high viability even after 7 continuous days of the cells cultured. Result show that remains viable in cellular-structures in vitro, nucleus of cells was observed by fluorescent microscopy, which could be potential factors in the human cardiac progenitor cells (hCPCs) tissue engineering.