Multicellular systems, microbial biofilms and most animal tissues, consist of cells embedded in an Extracellular Matrix (ECM), a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules such as cell membranes, proteins, DNA/RNA and extracellular vesicles that provide structural and functional support to surrounding cells.
The Wang Lab focused on deciphering Extracellular Matrix and Interfaces for rational design of Nanotherapeutics and Biomimetic Materials, by converging computational, experimental methods and bio-evaluation platform with data ecosystem, in order to provide insights and to advance nanotechnologies in healthcare and environment.
What We Do
Engineered nanomaterials have been developed for various therapeutic purposes because of the precise control over sizes, shapes, chirality, compositions, etc. Our effort focuses on understanding the mechanisms of interactions between nanotherapeutics and biological molecules/structures within ECM, and developing strategies to advance the rational design of nanotherapeutic.
Extracellular Matrix
ECM contains a high density of multiscale interfaces comprised of nanoscale components such as cell membranes, DNA/RNA, proteins and their assemblies. Our ongoing studies are aimed at deciphering multiscale architecture and functions of ECM, in order to revolutionize the rational design of nanotherpeutics and biomimetic materials with convergent approaches.
Biomimetic scaffolds mimic important features of the ECM architecture. Rational design of biomimetic nanocomposites provides cells with a variety of physical, chemical, and biological cues for tissue engineering, elicit specified cellular responses mediated by interactions with multiscale components from ECM, and standardize in-vitro models for high-throughput drug discovery.
How We Do It
Converging Multiscale/Multi-Discipline Methods
Due to the nature of multiscale ECM and interfaces, it is challenging to determine the interactions between scales and to conserve relevant information from lower scales to higher scales. The Wang Lab converge multiscale and multi-discipline methods including 1) Experimental synthesis, characterization and quantitative description of materials and their interactions with multiscale components of ECM. 2) Computational model for molecular understanding and mechanism identification. 3) Bio-evaluation platforms with standardized and high-throughput data set for validation of the mechanism model .
The Wang Lab 