materials design, processing, and characterization ○ bio-interfacing functional materials ○ soft matter

The bio-electronic interface is the next frontier of a wide range of biomedical therapies, from implanted devices that therapeutically stimulate organs, to regenerative medicines that use electrical cues to guide stem cell differentiation towards target lineages. Yet, severe mismatch in mechanical properties at this interface remains a major challenge. Conventional conductors are significantly stiffer (Young’s modulus, E~ GPa) than soft tissues (E~ kPa); cannot accomodate dynamic motions; and interact with the body via planar rather than 3-D interfaces. My Ph.D. research in Prof. Zhenan Bao’s lab addressed these limitations through the design of conjugated polymer-based hydrogel materials capable of possessing tissue-level stiffness, high stretchability, and injectability to interface with biological targets in 3 dimensions. 

Conducting polymer hydrogels for next-generation bio-electronic interfaces

Dynamic polymers for self-healing and biodegradable electronic devices

Incorporating dynamic bonding chemistries into polymers can enable advanced stimuli-responsive functionalities like self-healing and triggered degradation. Bio-electronic implants comprising such materials may significantly reduce risks associated with the invasive surgical procedures needed for device retrieval.
Leveraging my expertise in mechanical and chemical characterization (dynamic mechanical analysis, rheology, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electron microscopy), I have collaborated closely with polymer chemists to develop dynamic electronic materials, including biodegradable semiconductors and self-healing dielectrics. 

Actively-triggerable metals for biomedical applications

There is a broad need for biomedical devices that are robust during their functional lifetimes yet capable of breaking down predictably at end of life. Such devices can be realized using actively-triggerable materials, which break down in response to an exogenous stimulus, yet most triggerable materials to date are made from low-strength polymers. My postdoctoral research showed that high-strength metals can be triggered to disintegrate on demand using exogenous biocompatible chemical stimuli. I demonstrated these actively-triggerable metals both ex vivo and in vivo for 3 clinically-relevant biomedical applications.

This work has been highlighted in MIT press (link), Brigham and Women’s Hospital press (link), and Physics World (link).