We study and orchestrate how synthetic materials interact with living cells. We engineer cell-instructive environments and material-based solutions for zero-waste therapeutic solutions.
Our group develops hydrogel materials with programmed and tunable properties designed to encapsulate and instruct living cells. We study how living cells and inert matter interact and how these interactions can be exploited to direct cellular functions and ultimately result in therapeutic advantages. We cooperate with synthetic biologists, biophysicists, drug developers and clinicians to explore the application potential of our developments, with a focus on new materials for ophthalmic drug delivery. We contribute to INM’s competence fields opto-interactive and bio-intelligent materials. Our research addresses biomedical needs.
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Team Members
Research
Hydrogels with latent properties
By integrating phototriggers and light-responsive molecular motors in polymeric networks, we develop 4D hydrogels with optoregulated (bio)chemical activity, crosslinking, degradation, or mechanoactuation. These are used for biophysical studies of cell response to changes in the biochemical and mechanical signals of the extracellular environment.
Model Cellular Microenvironments
We build synthetic models of cell-matrix and cell-cell interfaces with encoded biochemical, mechanical and dimensional signals. To accelerate discovery, we develop material microarrays for high-throughput biophysical experimentation and apply them to study multifactorial cell responses.
Living Therapeutic Devices
We develop bioinks and apply biofabrication technologies for functional and safe encapsulation of cells in medical devices. We focus on self-replenishable living therapeutic materials which integrate drug biofactories and have unlimited therapeutic release. We aim for innovation in ocular therapeutics with living, self-replenishable drug-eluting contact lenses.
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Selected Publications
Yang, Wenjuan | Denger, Andreas | Diener, Caroline | Küppers, Frederic | Soriano-Baguet, Leticia | Schäfer, Gertrud | Yanamandra, Archana K. | Zhao, Renping | Knörck, Arne | Schwarz, Eva C. | Hart, Martin | Lammert, Frank | Roma, Leticia Prates | Brenner, Dirk | Christidis, Grigorios | Helms, Volkhard | Meese, Eckart | Hoth, Markus | Qu, Bin
Frontiers in Immunology , 2022, 13 831680.
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2022.831680
Alhayek, Alaa | Khan, Essak S. | Schönauer, Esther | Däinghaus, Tobias | Shafiei, Roya | Voos, Katrin | Han, Mitchell K. L | Ducho, Christian | Posselt, Gernot | Wessler, Silja | Brandstetter, Hans | Haupenthal, Jörg | del Campo, Aránzazu | Hirsch, Anna K. H.
Advanced Therapeutics , 2022, 5 (3), 2100222.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adtp.202100222
Feng, Jun | Zheng, Yijun | Jiang, Qiyang | Włodarczyk-Biegun, Małgorzata K. | Pearson, Samuel | del Campo, Aránzazu
Advanced Materials Technologies , 2022, 7 (10), 2101539.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/admt.202101539
Jin, Minye | Gläser, Alisa | Paez, Julieta I.
Polymer Chemistry , 2022, 13 (35), 5116-5126.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/D2PY00481J
Jin, Minye | Koçer, Gülistan | Paez, Julieta I.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces , 2022, 14 (4), 5017-5032.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c22186
Koçer, Gülistan | Albino, Inês M. C. | Verheijden, Mark L. | Jonkheijm, Pascal
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry , 2022, 68 116850.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0968089622002425
Zhang, Jingnan | Zhao, Renping | Li, Bin | Farrukh, Aleeza | Hoth, Markus | Qu, Bin | del Campo, Aránzazu
Acta Biomaterialia , 2021, 119 234-246.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742706120306176
Zhao, Renping | Zhou, Xiangda | Khan, Essak S. | Alansary, Dalia | Friedmann, Kim S. | Yang, Wenjuan | Schwarz, Eva C. | del Campo, Aránzazu | Hoth, Markus | Qu, Bin
Frontiers in Immunology , 2021, 12 (3309), 729820.
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fimmu.2021.729820
Rodrigo-Navarro, Aleixandre | Sankaran, Shrikrishnan | Dalby, Matthew J. | del Campo, Aránzazu | Salmeron-Sanchez, Manuel
Nature Reviews Materials , 2021, 6 1175–1190.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-021-00350-8
Zheng, Yijun | Han, Mitchell K. L. | Zhao, Renping | Blass, Johanna | Zhang, Jingnan | Zhou, Dennis W. | Colard-Itté, Jean-Rémy | Dattler, Damien | Çolak, Arzu | Hoth, Markus | García, Andrés J. | Qu, Bin | Bennewitz, Roland | Giuseppone, Nicolas | del Campo, Aránzazu
Nature Communications , 2021, 12 (1), 3580.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23815-4