Plenary Speakers

Professor Rui L. Reis     3B's Research Group, University of Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal     Innovative Biomaterials and Processing Routes for the Engineering of Different Tissues

Biography: Professor Rui L. Reis, PhD, DSc, Hon. Causa MD, Hon Causa PhD, FBSE, FTERM, member of NAE, FAIMBE, FEAMBES, was born in 1967 in Porto, Portugal. He is the Vice-President for Research and Innovation of University of Minho, Portugal, Director of the 3B’s Research Group - member of the I3Bs – Institute for Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, and Director of the ICVS/3B´s Associate Laboratory, both of UMinho. He is also the CEO of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, the Coordinator of the Discoveries Centre for Regenerative and Precision Medicine, the Global Past-President of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) and the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. He is a recognized World expert in the TERM and biomaterials fields, that has edited several books and has more 1225 published works listed on ISI Web of Knowledge with an h index of 86 (1115 works and h=92 in Scopus and 1923 and h=110 in Google Scholar), being also an inventor of around 70 patents. Based on those he co-funded several companies that raised important private investments. According to Google Scholar his work has been cited more than 50000 times. He has been awarded many important international prizes, including among several others different innovation awards, the Jean Leray and George Winter Awards (ESB), the Clemson Award (SFB), the TERMIS-EU contributions to the literature Award and the TERMIS-EU Career Achievement Award, and recently (2018) the UNESCO- International Life Sciences Award and the IET A. F. Harvey Engineering Research Prize. He is the PI of projects with a budget totalizing more than 50 million Euros.

Professor Zhanfeng Cui     University of Oxford, UK     Bio-Manufacture of Personalised Therapeutics: Centralised vs Decentralised vs Distributed

Abstract: Many advanced novel therapies are personalised. Examples include cellular immuno therapy of cancer, gene therapy and autologous cell therapy. 3D bioprinted tissues and organs are another examples. It is anticipated that such  personalisation  trends may be extended to antibodies and smaller molecules.   Manufactures of these advanced therapeutic entities is  complex and costy. The products are usually have very limited shelf life and hence storage and transport issues are important. The manufacture and process cost, from patient to patient,  must be minimised in order to make these new therapies affordable.  

In this presentation, the advantages and disadvantages of centralised, decentralised as well as distributed biomanufacture are discussed in conjunction with the  current regulatory requirements. CAR-T cancer therapy and 3D printed hard tissues are used as examples. Through the discussion,  technical bottlenecks are identified and possible future research topics are presented.

Biography: Prof Cui is the Donald Pollock Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Oxford since the Chair was established in  2000. He  is  the  Founding Director of  Oxford  Centre for Tissue Engineering and Bioprocessing, and Founding Director of the Oxford Suzhou Centre for Advanced Research (OSCAR). He was educated in China  (BSc, Inner Mongolia Polytechnic University, MSc and PhD from Dalian University of Technology). After  a postdoc in Strathclyde University, he became a lecturer in Edinburgh University in 1991, moved to Oxford in 1994 as a University Lecturer and was elected to the first Chemical Engineering Chair in 2000. He is a Fellow of the Insitution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) and a Fellow of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (FAIMBE). He was elected to a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering  (FREng) in 2013. 

His  main research interest is enabling technologies for regenerative medicine  including bioreactors, monitoring, three dimensional culture,  cryopreservation and scale-up. His centre conducts translational research targeting on cancer, diabetes, neural degeneration and musculoskeletal conditions.

Professor Paolo Dario    The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Italy     Frontiers of Bionics Science and Engineering​

Abstract: Robotics is a highly interdisciplinary domain that is rapidly growing and that, together with artificial intelligence, will have a dramatic impact on our society in the next decades. All robots are featured by a physical “body”, based on a series of hardware technologies, and by an intelligence (“mind”), that can be autonomous, and/or connected, and/or embedded, and/or incorporated in the body structure and function. Traditional robots are rigid, and their bodies are typically based on metals. In recent years, deformable and smart materials have been proposed as possible constituents of advanced soft robots, over a wide range of length scales. Novel manufacturing strategies and materials (including biomaterials and cell-based structures) open new horizons for soft, bio-inspired and bio-integrated robots, featured by distributed (or embodied) intelligence over their hardware components, thus enabling unprecedented abilities and potential applications.

This talk aims to highlight the potential of such “new robots”, in particular in the fields of biorobotics and bionics, dealing with artificial organs, advanced prostheses, implantable technologies, bioinspired and biointegrated medical devices. The talk also emphasizes how the biomaterials and bio-design community can contribute to these fields, dramatically increasing their possible impact on science, technology, industry and society.

Biography: Paolo Dario is Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. He received his Dr Eng Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pisa, and Honorary Dr Eng Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Campus Biomedico University in Rome, and has been and is visiting researcher, professor and fellow at various universities and scientific institutions in Europe, USA, the Middle East and Asia. His current research interests are in the field of bio-robotics and bionics, and include surgical robotics, micro/nano devices for endoscopy, bio-inspired devices and systems, and assistive and companion robots. Paolo Dario is the author of 400+ journal publications (Scopus), his H-Index is 64 (Scopus). He is co-author of 50+ international patents and co-founder of 5 start-up companies. Paolo Dario has been the coordinator of many large national and European projects. He served as Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and member of the Editorial Board of many international journals in biomedical engineering and in robotics. He is Founding Editorial Board Member of the Journal “Science Robotics”, Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering and Editor-in-Chief of the new IEEE Transactions on Medical Robotics and Bionics. Paolo Dario is an IEEE Fellow and a Fellow of the European Society on Medical and Biological Engineering. He served as President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society and received many prizes and Awards, including the 1996 Joseph Engelberger Award for Medical Robotics, the 2014 IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award, and the 2017 IEEE RAS Pioneer Award for Biorobotics.

Professor Huayong Yang     Zhejiang University, China     Bio-design and manufacturing of functional tissues and organs

Abstract: 3D bioprinting is known as a novel manufacturing technology for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, bringing possible ways to solve the serious problems of organ shortage, benefit to illness treatment as well as in vitro drug test. More than 300 institutions worldwide have focused on the main aspects of bioprinting including printing equipment, extracellular matrix materials and fabricating methods, to biomimic the organ structure and cell environment in human body with biological functions. Though amount of encouraging and exciting results comes out through the global effort, there still many challenges need to be addressed to achieve fully functional tissues and organs. Currently, the three main challenges are modeling, forming and functionalization.

In order to solve the above challenges, researches should be focused on the following aspects. Developing novel strategies on the modeling of macro- and micro-structures of complex heterogenetic tissues and organs; design and formulate multiple crosslinking bioinks, reveal forming mechanism of non-Newton fluids and precisely control the microenvironment of cells; design and manufacture high resolution multi-materials printing systems with multi-integrated printing methods including micro-extrusion, inkjet and stereolithography with parallel and concurrent printing abilities; explore the mechanism of transition from cells to functiona; tissues and the relationship between engineered tissues and host.

Based on the above concepts many research activities have been focused on fabricating functionalized human functional organs in Zhejiang University, including skin, blood vessel, microfiber, liver and tumor tissues as well as tissues with complex surfaces, including cornea and cardiac muscle and nerve conduit.

Biography: Huayong Yang received bachelor degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1982 and PhD degree from University of Bath in 1988. He is now the head of School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, the director of the State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems. His research interests are in motion control and energy saving of mechatronic systems, development of fluid power component and system, integration of electro-hydraulic system and engineering applications, 3D bioprinting systems and biofabrication applications. Prof. He has received a number of honors and recognitions including been awarded the National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2004, selected as the Yangtze river scholars Distinguished Professor of MOE in 2005, the Chief Scientist of a project founded by the National Basic Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology(MOST) twice in 2007 and 2012, elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2013, a member of the China People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee in 2018, won the National Innovation Award in 2017. He has been a fellow member of the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, and a member of the Academic and Advisory Committees of 12 State Key Laboratories. He severs as the chief editor of the journal BioDesign and Manufacturing and Journal of Zhejiang University, Science A.

Professor Kevin Cleary     Children's National Health System, Washington, DC, USA     Surgical robotics and image-guided navigation in the operating room of the future

Abstract: Surgical robotics and image-guided navigation are two key technologies for the operating room of the future. Surgical robotics and image-guided navigation can improve surgical precision and minimize procedure invasiveness. The use of robotics in the operating room continues to grow and there are now commercially available systems for laparoscopic surgery, vascular access, and orthopedic procedures. New robotic technology such as single port system or robotic NOTES (natural orifice transluminal endoscope surgery) is emerging. Image-guided navigation can provide the surgeon with better visualization of the operative site and can include the fusion of pre-operative imaging with intra-operative imaging to provide guidance during a procedure. New imaging and navigation technologies will be reviewed along with their clinical applicability. The operating room of the future will be more and more dependent on technology. Therefore, surgeons and engineers must work together to ensure the appropriate use of technology to improve patient care.

Biography: Kevin Cleary PhD is the Scientific Lead of the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation in Washington DC. He leads a team of engineers and scientists working with their clinical colleagues to develop biomedical devices for pediatric care. He is internationally recognized for his research in medical robotics and image-guided navigation. Previously he was at Georgetown University Medical Center in the Imaging Science and Information Systems Center, where he developed systems for minimally invasive procedures. He received his BS and MS degrees from Duke University and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, all in mechanical engineering. He was also an NSF-sponsored postdoctoral scientist in Japan.

Professor Yong Huang     University of Florida, USA     Bioprinting: Implementation, Process Dynamics, and Process-Induced Cell Injury

Abstract: Maskless (including extrusion-, laser-, and inkjet-based) three-dimensional (3D) cell bioprinting is a revolutionary advance for printing arbitrary cellular patterns as well as creating heterogeneous living constructs. More importantly, bioprinting provides a promising solution to the problem of organ donor shortage by providing printed tissue/organ constructs for transplantation, resulting in what is known as organ printing. While there are various technological advances for bioprinting, cell-laden viscoelastic fluid printing and printing-induced cell injury still pose significant challenges to ensuring the scale-up of robust bioprinting. Using laser bioprinting (laser-induced forward transfer) and inkjet bioprinting as two jet-based model printing systems, we have been studying the bioink jettability and printability as well as printing-induced cell injury problems, aiming to achieve robotic bioprinting. In this talk, the perspective of ongoing bioprinting research and various bioprinting technologies are first introduced. Then the jettability and printability of cell-laden viscoelastic bioinks are discussed using the dimensionless Ohnesorge and elasto-capillary numbers to capture the influence of material properties along with the Weber number to capture the influence of printing conditions. Furthermore, the modeling of laser-induced cellular droplet formation and landing processes is presented, and the relationship between the mechanical loading information and post-transfer cell injury/viability is established using an apoptosis signaling pathway-based modeling approach. Finally, this talk shares some thoughts regarding bioprinting-related basic scientific challenges.

Biography: Dr. Yong Huang is a professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. His research interests are two-fold: 1) processing of biological and engineering materials for healthcare/energy applications, and 2) understanding of dynamic material behavior during manufacturing and process-induced damage or defect structures. His current research topics include three-dimensional (3D) printing of biological and engineering structures, precision engineering of medical implants and performance evaluation of machined implants, and fabrication of polymeric microspheres / microcapsules / hollow fiber membranes. He served as the Technical Program Chair for the 2010 American Society of Mechanical Engineers International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference (ASME MSEC 2010) and the 2012 International Symposium on Flexible Automation (ISFA 2012). He received various awards for his manufacturing research contributions including the ASME Blackall Machine Tool and Gage Award (2005), the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award (2006), the NSF CAREER Award (2008), and the ASME International Symposium on Flexible Automation Young Investigator Award (2008). He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002 and is a Fellow of ASME.