Biomaterials for Devices and Regenerative Medicine (BDRM)

Biomaterials and Devices for Disease and Regenerative Medicine (BDRM) theme (formerly Cellular and Molecular Systems Engineering) within the M2M Center consists of a growing interdisciplinary group of 12 investigators from four departments. The overarching goal of BDRM is to understand, manipulate and design in vitro model systems at the cellular, molecular, and tissue levels for applications in disease and regenerative medicine. To achieve this goal, BDRM faculty combine expertise in cellular engineering, tissue engineering, molecular self-assembly, mechanics, high-throughput screening, biopolymer materials, and materials design principles. The proximity to other clusters in the Life Science Laboratories has fostered new collaborations within the Institute for Applied Life Sciences, across campus and with the UMass Medical School.

BDRM research is organized into three focus areas:

• Tissue engineering and bioinspired materials: to synthesize and characterize novel materials from natural and synthetic materials, and to understand their interactions with microbial and human cells, tissues, and biomolecules.
• Mechanobiology: to identify how cells sense and respond to mechanical stimuli, and to employ these principles to new treatment platforms for diseases, artificial tissue constructs, and drug screening.
• Treatments and models of disease: to combine novel materials, transport models, mechanical signals and microfluidics with living systems to study how cells sift through complex information to inform disease onset, progression, and eradication.

The three focus areas are synergistic due to their emphasis on multiscale engineering of complex biosystems at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels for human health applications and regenerative medicine.

Contact Information
Yubing Sun, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering