Collagen-Based Biotextiles for Tissue Engineering

Fan Zhang, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar at University of Washington Department of Bioengineering in Seattle, Washington. Fan received her Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science under the direction of Dr. Martin W. King at North Carolina State University, focused on designing and engineering biomaterials for tissue-engineered vascular graft. She has designed a series of innovative composite biomaterials that leverage the mechanical strength of fibers and bioactivities of hydrogel and biologics such as extracellular matrix proteins, glycosaminoglycans and cytokines. Upon receiving her degree, she joined University of Washington to continue her research in biomaterials and regenerative medicine. Her work bridges several facets of regenerative medicine, including biomaterial engineering, scaffold design, tissue engineering, regenerative immunology, and vascularization. Fan's current research focuses on designing biomaterials to promote vascularization in engineered tissue and uncovering the mechanism underlying biomaterial-induced vascular network formation.

Daxian Zha, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California. Daxian received a Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science from North Carolina State University. Her research focuses on designing scaffold material for wound healing and tissue engineering. Her research projects involve developing novel woven and knitted scaffolds for skin tissue regeneration to exploring the use of human induced pluripotent stem cells for ocular surface reconstruction.

Yihan Huang, Ph.D., is a Research and Development Engineer at Cook Medical in Bloomington, Indiana. She received a Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science from North Carolina State University. Her research work focuses on engineering braided scaffold seeded with tendon stem/progenitor cells for rotator cuff tissue engineering. Yihan joined Cook medical upon graduation and is currently working on identifying clinical needs, conceiving new medical products and solutions, and contributing to the evaluation of new technologies in Vascular R&D.

Monica Vijay Deshpande, Ph.D., is a Product Development Engineer at Secant Group in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Monica received her PhD in Fiber and Polymer Science from North Carolina State University. Her research focus on biotextile development and engineering.

Ting He, Ph.D., is a Senior Principal Textile Engineer at Edwards Lifesciences in Irvine, California. Ting received Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science from North Carolina State University. Ting expertise in textile engineering from yarn development to fabric design and dedicated to provide textile solution for implantable devices. Her research involves three dimensional cloth design of heart valve devices, warp knitted multiple-phase fabric to regenerate muscle-tendon-junction tissue, electrospun scaffold as tissue engineering skin scaffold, extrusion of grooved PLA filament to improve cellular response to material surface, as well as degradation process of textile scaffold in production.

Jiyang Chen, Ph.D., is a Product Manager at WuXi XDC in Shanghai, China. Jiyang earned his Ph.D. degree in Fiber and Polymer Science from North Carolina State University and received his post-doctoral training in the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Chemistry. His research focused on designing biodegradable implant for cardiac application and establishing primary cell lines.

Tushar Bambharoliya, Ph.D., is a Manufacturing Manager at Becton, Dickinson and Company in Lexington, Massachusetts. Tushar earned his Ph.D. in Fiber and Polymer Science from North Carolina State University. Tushar's research focus lies in the development of soft tissue repair medical devices, available in a variety of shapes and sizes, all incorporating the advanced P4HB polymer technology.

Martin W. King, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biotextiles and Textile Technology at North Carolina State University, having earned his bachelor's degree in Polymer Technology from Manchester University, UK, and his doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering from l'Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France. His collaborative work with surgeons and industrial partners throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia has enabled his research focus to understand the design, evaluation, and clinical performance of a wide range of different implantable medical textile devices, such as sutures, vascular prostheses, hernia and prolapse repair meshes, heart valves, artificial tendons and ligaments, tissue engineering scaffolds, drug delivery membranes, and wound dressings.