The significance of mimicking cell phenotype in mechanical
environments typically found in vivo is an emerging theme in stem cell
therapy and one that leverages major national research investments, in
nanoscience, systems biology and regenerative medicine. Importantly, it
has recently been shown that cellular responses to the nanoscale
mechanical environment must also be considered alongside biochemical
stimuli in order to understand, control functional adaptation and
pathological conditions within the human body. This research
programme brings together an interdisciplinary team of scientists who
work in the fields of nanomechanics and systems biology to identify the
molecular mechanism(s) of nanomechanical transduction in cells. The
applications of the research are potentially huge to the medical device
industry, for example in designing the next generation of vascular stents.
Our intent is to produce functional biological nanostructures to address
two main problems facing conventional implants, the use of biotolerable
rather than biocompatible materials and the use of materials with
mechanical properties poorly matched to their surrounding environment.
Our target structures will be adaptive, whereby mechanical properties can
be tuned in situ via optical, thermal or biochemical stimuli whilst also
incorporating drug eluting surfaces or stem cell implanted scaffolds to
improve biocompatibility. Design will be aided by the use of
computational modeling and systems biology techniques. This
programme promises to produce a new class of biomaterials that will
revolutionize the biomedical device industry.
