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
Jin, Minye | Koçer, Gülistan | Paez, Julieta I.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces , 2022, 14 (4), 5017-5032.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c22186
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
Vandeberg, Romain | Grysan, Patrick | Sion, Caroline | Włodarczyk-Biegun, Małgorzata K. | Lentzen, Esther | Bour, Jérôme | Krishnamoorthy, Sivashankar | Olmos, Eric | Grandfils, Christian
International Journal of Polymeric Materials and Polymeric Biomaterials , 2022, 72 (4), 285-295.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00914037.2021.2006657
Puertas-Bartolomé, María | Włodarczyk-Biegun, Małgorzata K. | del Campo, Aránzazu | Vázquez-Lasa, Blanca | San Román, Julio
Materials Science and Engineering: C , 2021, 131 112515.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092849312100655X
Pearson, Samuel | Feng, Jun | del Campo, Aránzazu
Advanced Functional Materials , 2021, 31 (50), 2105989.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adfm.202105989
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
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
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
Nair, Roshna V. | Farrukh, Aleeza | del Campo, Aránzazu
Advanced Healthcare Materials , 2021, 10 (14), 2100488.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adhm.202100488
Paez, Julieta I. | de Miguel-Jiménez, Adrián | Valbuena-Mendoza, Rocío | Rathore, Aditi | Jin, Minye | Gläser, Alisa | Pearson, Samuel | del Campo, Aránzazu
Biomacromolecules , 2021, 22 (7), 2874–2886.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00256