Handbook of Biomimetics and Bioinspiration

“Nature is by far the world's greatest engineer and materials scientist. We can learn from this great source novel technology to develop new materials and devices with a diverse range of applications and to repair and replace human tissue, bone, and organ. The potential of Biomimetics is nearly unlimited.
This three-volume set brings together contributions from an international group of distinguished scientists and engineers in the areas of Bioinspired Materials, Electromechanical Systems, and Tissue Engineering. Edited by faculty from top research groups in the US and UK, this reference on Biomimetics is an invaluable resource providing a comprehensive coverage of the latest advances in this important area of great value for scientists, engineers, and physicians working at the intersection of biology, life sciences, and materials.”

Esmaiel Jabbari, Lead Editor, is Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of South Carolina. He completed his PhD from Purdue University and postdoctoral studies at Monsanto Biotechnology, Rice University, and Mayo Clinic. He has contributed to the field of biomimetic materials for applications in regenerative medicine and drug delivery. He received the Berton Rahn Award in Orthopedic Research from the AO Foundation in 2012 for his contribution to biomimetic orthopedic biomaterials and the Stephen B Milam award from the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Foundation in 2008. He has published >180 books, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, peer-reviewed journal articles, and refereed conference proceedings. He has given >40 invited lectures and >200 presentations at national and international conferences on biomimetic materials, tissue engineering and drug delivery. He is a member of numerous scientific organizations including BMES, SFB, TERMIS, MRS, EMBS, ACS, AIChE, and AACR. He was elected fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2013. Read more at http://www.che.sc.edu/faculty/jabbari/.

Deok-Ho Kim, Editor, is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington. He received the B.S. from POSTECH in 1998, the MS degree from Seoul National University in 2000, in Mechanical Engineering, and the PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2010. From March 2000 to June 2005, he worked as a Research Scientist at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), including his 7 months academic visit at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich (ETH-Zurich). His current research aims to investigate how engineered microenvironments can direct cell function and tissue regeneration. Several specific thrusts of his current research program include biomimetic materials/devices/systems, functional tissue engineering, microscale stem/tumor cell niche engineering, and cell mechanobiology. He has authored or co-authored over 50 journal papers, over 100 conference papers and conference abstracts, over 50 invited talks, has been granted 15 patents. Among the award he has received are American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship (2008), Samsung Humantech Thesis Award (2009), the Harold M. Weintraub Award in Biological Sciences (2010), Perkins Coie Award for Discovery (2011), American Heart Association Scientist Development Award (2012), KSEA Young Investigator Award (2013), and BMES-CMBE Rising Star Award (2013). Read more at: http://www.engr.washington.edu/facresearch/newfaculty/2010/deokhokim.html.

Luke P Lee, Editor, is the Arnold and Barbara Silverman Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and Biophysics at UC Berkeley. He is the founding Director of the Biomedical Institute of Global Healthcare Research & Technology (BIGHEART) and Co-Director of Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center. He received both his BA in Biophysics and PhD in Applied Physics (major) & Bioengineering (minor) from UC Berkeley, then he joined the faculty at the UC Berkeley in 1999. He served as the Lester John and Lynne Dewar Lloyd Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Biophysics at Berkeley in 2005. He also served as the Chair Professor in Systems Nanobiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich) from 2006 to 2007. His work at the interface of biological, physical, and engineering sciences for medicine has been recognized by many honors that include the HoAm Prize, the William J. Morlock Award, and NSF Career Award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. His current research interests are bioinspired engineering science & technology (BEST), bionanoscience, in vitro neurogenesis, and molecular diagnostics for preventive personalized medicine. Prof. Lee has authored and co-authored over 250 papers on biophotonics, single cell analysis, nanoplasmonics, optofluidics, biomedical devices, bioinspired microfluidics for quantitative cell biology and organs on chip. Read more at: http://biopoets.berkeley.edu.

Amir Ghaem-Maghami, Editor, obtained his MD (1998) before doing a PhD in Immunology at the University of Nottingham, UK (2002). After working as a Research Associate in Universities of Leicester and Nottingham (2002–2005), investigating the role of antigen presenting cells in infectious and allergic diseases, he was appointed as a Lecturer (2006) and then Associate Professor (2011) in Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine (University of Nottingham) where he established Allergy & Tissue Modelling Research Group. Amir's current research examines two main areas: 1- Bioengineering of immuno-competent tissue models as platforms for disease modelling and drug discovery and 2- Role of antigen presenting and epithelial cells in host-pathogen interactions. Amir is a member of British Society for Immunology, European Macrophage and Dendritic Cell Society & British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology and currently leads a number of multidisciplinary projects on tissue engineering of immuno-competent tissue models. Read more at: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mol/people/amir.ghaemmaghami.

Ali Khademhosseini, Editor, is an Associate Professor at Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School as well as an Associate Faculty at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and a Junior PI at Japan's World Premier International-Advanced Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University where he directs a satellite laboratory. He has authored over 230 peer-reviewed journal papers (H-index = 51, >9800 citations) and 70 book chapters/editorials. In addition, he has been invited to more than 160 invited/keynote lectures. Dr. Khademhosseini's interdisciplinary research has been recognized by over 30 major national and international awards. He has received early career awards from three major engineering discipline societies: electrical (IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society award and IEEE Nanotechnology award), chemical (Colburn award from the AIChE) and mechanical engineering (Y.C. Fung award from the ASME). He is also a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor given by the US government for early career investigators. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). He received his PhD in bioengineering from MIT (2005), and MASc (2001) and BASc (1999) degrees from University of Toronto both in chemical engineering. Read more at: http://www.tissueeng.net/.

About The Contributors

Dr Ahmad Dagamseh received his BS degree in Electronics Engineering from Yarmouk University, Jordan in 2004, the MSc degree in Micro-electronics Engineering from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 2007 and earned the PhD degree, from the University of Twente, The Netherlands in 2011, by his research on Biomimetic MEMS flow sensors. Currently, he is Assistant Professor in the Electronics Engineering Department at Yarmouk University, Jordan. His research interests are focused on bio-inspired sensors fabricated by MEMS technology, micro-sensors, sensor-interfacing and related signal processing.

Alex Jiao is a current graduate student in the Bioengineering PhD program at the University of Washington. He received his BS in Biomedical Engineering in 2010 from Northwestern University. He has conducted undergraduate research both at Northwestern University as well as the University of Michigan. His current research focuses on cardiac tissue engineering as well as biomaterials and stem cell biology. Among the awards he has received are the ASME-NEMB Outstanding Paper Award (2013), BMES-CEMB Student Travel Award (2013), NIH Training Grant fellow (2011), and NSF GRFP Honorable Mention (2011).

Alexander Hodge is a graduate research assistant studying under Dr Elizabeth Lipke at Auburn University. Alex has worked previously under S.T. Yang at the Ohio State University and briefly in the Cardiac Assist Replacement Laboratory at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute. He received his BS from the Ohio State University in Chemical Engineering in 2009. Alex's PhD research interest lies in the application of biomimetic materials for use in cardiac regeneration and cardiomyocyte differentiation and maturation.

Dr Andrés Pantoja received his BS degree in electronics engineering from Universidad Nacional, Manizales, Colombia in 1999, and the MS and PhD degrees in electronics engineering from the School of Engineering of Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia in 2008 and 2012, respectively. He is an Assistant Professor in the Electronics Department in Universidad de Nariño, Pasto, Colombia, and the director of the research group in electrical engineering. His research interests are dynamic resource allocation, distributed generation, distributed control in smart grids and buildings, and coordination in large-scale systems.

Andrea Winzen obtained a Diploma Degree in Aerospace Engineering at Aachen University of Applied Sciences in 2006. Afterwards she worked as a research assistant at the Brandenburgische Technische University and the Aachen University of Applied Sciences. Since 2010 she has been employed as a research assistant at the Institute of Aerodynamics at RWTH Aachen University, cooperating in the project “From Owl Flight to Future Wing Design” within the priority research project “Nature-inspired fluid mechanics” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

Dr Andrew Bell is a visiting fellow at the Eccles Institute of Neuroscience within the John Curtin School of Medical Research. With initial training in physics and philosophy, he has moved through atmospheric physics, optics, and general science communication to cochlear mechanics. He has an MSc and PhD in auditory science from the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, where he continues to investigate how and why ears emit soft pure tones.

Dr Arianna B Lovati (DVM, PhD) works as a preclinical researcher on tissue engineering based therapies and animal models for orthopaedic diseases at the Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute (Milan, Italy) since 2009. She received her veterinary degree from the University of Milan (Italy) (2002). She worked in equine private veterinary practices from 2002 to 2007, working as an expert in extracorporeal shock wave and Tecar therapies for tendon injuries. She collaborated both with the Advanced Biotechnology Center, University of Genoa (Italy) and Biotechnology Research Center at the University of Milan (Italy) for research applied on animal models (2004–2007). She completed an Internship in equine orthopaedic surgery at the Tierklinik (Telgte, Germany) working as arthroscopic and orthopaedic surgeon (2006). She collaborated with the Fortier Laboratory at the Cornell University (Ithaca, USA) to perform studies on isolation and expansion of equine mesenchymal stem cells (2007). She obtained her PhD degree at the University of Milan working on adult stem cells from different equine tissues for orthopaedic treatments (2010).

Dr Astrid Herrero is a digestive surgeon at Montpellier University Hospital since 2009. She is specialized in liver resection (in particular for hepatocellular carcinoma) and liver transplantation. She has participated in several studies on liver failure following hepatectomy. In parallel, she also has an interest in developing cell-based therapy for the treatment of chronic or acute liver failure in cirrhotic patients. She has acquired a certain expertise in the isolation of hepatocytes and in the development of animal models and has received her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Montpellier in 2013.

Dr Bartosz Wyszynski received his ME and PhD degrees from Department of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Technical University of Szczecin, in 1997 and 2001, respectively. From 2001, he has been a research assistant in Technical University of Szczecin. From 2005 to 2007 he has been a postdoctoral researcher at Tokyo Institute of Technology under fellowship from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Currently he is a researcher in Tokyo Institute of Technology. His main research interests are sychophysiology of olfaction, artificial olfaction and chemical sensing, environmental impact of odors and odor control policies.

Benjie Pease is an occupational therapist specializing in hand and upper extremity therapy. He earned a Master's Degree from the University of Pittsburgh in Occupational Therapy (MOT) with a practice area of emphasis of orthopedics. Benjie conducted follow-up research as a member of the Stroke Outcomes Study Team. With over 5 years of experience, he has helped hundreds of patients recover from challenging hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder injuries and conditions both pre-operatively and post-operatively. He is proficient in fabricating complex custom splints for upper extremities.

Dr Bin Jiang is currently an Associate Professor in the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Portland State University. He obtained his PhD in mathematics and MS in computer science from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1999. After working at ArcGIS division of ESRI Inc. as a software developer for four years, he started his academic career in 2003. His current research interests include computational electromagnetism, numerical modeling of nanoscale optics, and numerical simulation of carbon nanotube and graphene.

Dr Biru Hu, PhD, is Associate Professor in Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), China. He received his PhD from NUDT in 2006, and was an academic visitor in Bristol University of UK from 2008 to 2009. He majored in Chemistry, focusing on the formation, dispersion and optical characterization of aerosol and biomimetic materials. Email: brhu@yeah.net.

Blayne Phillips is a doctoral candidate in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Blayne grew up in Trinidad and Tobago where he attended high school at St. Mary's College, Port of Spain. He attended Northeastern University, Boston, MA, where he was awarded the Reggie Lewis scholarship and graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He was admitted to University of Florida in 2010 with the NSF Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship. His current research interests include colloidal self-assembly, polymer membranes, antireflection coatings, and photovoltaics.

Brandon Engebretson is a PhD candidate at the School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering in the University of Oklahoma working in the area of musculoskeletal tissue engineering. He has worked for 2 years as a process engineer in the chemical industry after receiving his BS in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University. He is a Robert Hughes Centennial Fellow and a recipient of the Eddie Carol Smith Scholarship at the University of Oklahoma.

Dr Cato T Laurencin received the BSE degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, the PhD degree in biochemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and the MD degree magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, and Director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences and the Institute for Regenerative Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He is a University Professor and holds the Van Dusen Endowed Chair in the Dept. of Orthopaedic Surgery. He also holds an appointment as a Professor of Chemical, Materials and Biomolecular Engineering. His main research interests include the fields of polymer synthesis, musculoskeletal tissue engineering, gene therapy, drug delivery, nanotechnology, and regenerative engineering.

Dr Chiara Arrigoni is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory advised by Dr Matteo Moretti, since November 2010. She graduated in Biomedical Engineering in June 2002 and received her PhD in Bioengineering in May 2006 focusing on vascular tissue engineering, designing novel perfusion bioreactors for the generation of vascular constructs. Present research interests include automated bioreactors for engineered tissues production and the development of vascularized bone tissues.

Dr Choonghee Jo received BS and MS degrees in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering from Seoul National University, and MEng and PhD degrees from McGill University and University of Ottawa, respectively. He is currently working in the Division of Ocean Systems Engineering, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Systems Engineering at KAIST, Korea as a Research Assistant Professor. His research interests include solid mechanics, acoustic metamaterials, smart materials, numerical analysis, analytical modeling, and design optimization.

Dr David A Dunn, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the State University of NewYork at Oswego. He received his PhD in 2011 from the University of Rochester under the supervision of Carl A Pinkert concentrating on developing transgenic mouse models of mitochondrial disease. His postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Elizabeth A Lipke at Auburn University focused on creating genetically modified stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for utility in toxicology and regenerative medicine investigations.

David Klocke studied biology and physics at the University of Bonn and graduated in 2008 in biology. From 2009 to 2012, he made his PhD thesis at the Institute of Zoology of Bonn University on structure and material properties of insect infrared receptors. Currently, he is working as a High School teacher in Bonn.

Dr Dima Silin graduated with honors from National Aerospace University of Ukraine in 2000. In 2010, he received PhD in Aerospace Engineering from University of Arizona. Currently, he is employed as an aerospace engineer with MMIST, Inc, Canada. His research and professional interests include aerodynamics of flapping flight, simulations in flight dynamics and autonomous navigation, and aircraft design.

Dr Dongliang Tian received his PhD degree in chemistry from National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China (NCNST) in 2009 under the supervision of Prof. Lei Jiang. He then joined in the School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, China. His research interests are focused on fabrication of micro/nano structured materials with special surface wettability, and stimuli-responsive (e.g., Light, electric field and photoelectric cooperative) wettability of the structured photoelectric materials.

Dr Dong Yang obtained a PhD at the Northeast Forestry University in 2001 under the guidance of Prof. Lijia An. After working with Prof. Limin Qi as a Postdoctoral at Peking University, he joined the faculty of Tianjin University in 2004, where he is currently an Associate Professor in biochemical engineering. His research interests encompass functional nanomaterials, membranes and membrane processes. He has coauthored more than 40 SCI papers, with a total citation time of over 700 and h-index of 17.

Dr Dong-Woo Cho is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). He is also director of the Center for Rapid Prototyping based 3D Tissue/Organ printing. His research interests are fabrication of 3D microstructures using various biomaterials, biomimetic stimuli for the enhancement of artificial tissue regeneration, and cell/organ printing technology based on rapid prototyping. He obtained his PhD from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr Elizabeth A Lipke, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Auburn University. Dr Lipke received her BS from the Johns Hopkins University in Biomedical Engineering. She did her graduate research under Dr Jennifer West, receiving her PhD in Chemical Engineering from Rice University in 2005. As postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University under Dr LeslieTung, she examined the electrophysiological function of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Dr Lipke's research group investigates the ability of biomimetic materials to guide pluripotent stem cell differentiation and influence the functional properties of engineered tissues.

Dr Elizabeth L Hedberg-Dirk received her BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1996. In 2004, she received her PhD in Bioengineering from Rice University under the direction of Dr Antonios Mikos. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of NewMexico in the School of Engineering, Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering and the School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences. She is also an active member of UNM's Center for Biomedical Engineering. Dr Hedberg-Dirk's research focuses on the development of new polymeric materials along with novel processing techniques for the fabrication of materials with tunable spatial and temporal characteristics for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications.

Fabien Expert is a PhD student in the biorobotics department at the Institute of Movement Sciences (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University) in Marseille, France. He obtained his master degree in automatic control and electronics at the French engineering school INSA Toulouse with a specialization in Real time systems. He spent his last year of study as an exchange student in the University of Texas at Austin (USA) in the electrical and computer engineering department. Then, he did his Master thesis within the French spatial agency to develop a new particle counter. His current interest is the development of bioinspired autopilot for autonomous flying robots using optical flow.

Dr Falguni Pati is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). He is currently working on the development of novel decellularized extracellular matrix based bioink for application in bioprinting and repair or regeneration of adipose tissue. He obtained his PhD from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. As a part of his PhD research, he worked on Collagen/chitosan based fibrous scaffolds for tissue engineering application.

Dr Federico Carpi received the Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering, the PhD degree in Bioengineering and a second Laurea degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2001, 2005 and 2008, respectively. From 2000 to 2012, he has been with the University of Pisa, Italy. Since 2012, he serves as an Associate Professor/Reader in Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials at Queen Mary University of London, School of Engineering and Materials Science, UK. Since 2013, he is the President of “EuroEAP — European Society for Electromechanically Active Polymer Transducers & Artificial Muscles”. His research interests include smart material based biomedical and bioinspired mechatronic devices, polymer artificial muscles, as well as electrical and magnetic systems for non-invasive diagnostics.

Dr Francis C M Lau received the PhD degree in computer science from the University of Waterloo in 1986. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science of the University of Hong Kong since 1987, and served as the head of department from 2000 to 2005. He received a Golden Core recognition in 1998 and an IEEE Third Millennium Medal in 2000 for outstanding achievements and contributions to the IEEE Computer Society. Dr Lau's research interests include parallel and distributed computing, mobile and pervasive computing, and computer art and music. Email: fcmlau@cs.hku.hk.

Dr Franck Ruffier received (i) the Engineering degree in computer science, electronics and control theory from National Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble, (ii) the PhD degree from National Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble, in 2004 and (iii) the Habilitation degree (HDR) from Aix-Marseille University in 2013. He is currently a CNRS Research Scientist and co-Head of the Biorobotics Department, Institute of Movement Science, CNRS/Aix-Marseille University, Marseille. His current research interests include bioinspired sensors, insect ethology, and biorobotics.

Frédéric Roubieu obtained a master degree in Electronics, Image processing and Computer Science from the Institut Supérieur d'Électronique et du Numérique (ISEN), Toulon, France. In 2009, he joined the Biorobotics department at the Institude of Movement Science (CNRS/Aix-Marseille University) in Marseille, France, as a Master's student, and in 2010 as a PhD student. His current interest is bioinspired robotics with the development of bioinspired autopilot based on optic-flow cues aimed to equip autonomous micro-vehicles.

Dr Germán Obando received the BS degree in Electronics Engineering from Universidad de Nariño (Colombia) in 2008, and the MS degree in Electronics Engineering from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) in 2010. He is currently a PhD student at Universidad de los Andes and Ecole des Mines de Nantes (France) under the supervision of Professor Nicanor Quijano. His research interests include population dynamics, evolutionary game theory, distributed optimization, and smart energy systems.

Dr Gijs Krijnen received the MSc degree in electrical engineering and the PhD degree from the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, in 1987 and 1992, respectively. From 1992 to 1997, he worked on nonlinear optics (integrated devices). He was a Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Visiting Scientist at the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers, UCF, Orlando. Since 1998, he is with the Transducers Science and Technology Group, MESA+, University of Twente, and he chairs this group since 2011. His current research interest is in bioinspired micro-transducers in general and flow sensors in particular.

Dr Giuseppe Talò works as Research Fellow at the Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab, IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute (Milan-Italy) since 2008. In 2007, he graduated in Biomedical Engineering, with a thesis on the development of a dynamic bioreactor suitable to develop aortic valve constructs starting from decellularized human homografts in IRCCS Centro Cardiologico “Monzino”. He collaborated at the Politecnico of Milan — Department of Bioengineering (2007–2008). His main research activities are based on Tissue Engineering. Developing perfusion bioreactors equipped with pH and O2 sensors; biosensors for online monitoring permeability of 3D cultured tissue in bioreactors; bioreactors for screening of the effects of complex biomechanical stimuli on engineered cartilage; and works on vascularized bone tissue engineering.

Dr Gregory P Reece, MD, is a Professor of Plastic Surgery at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He completed general surgery training at The University Hospital of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville, Florida and plastic surgery training at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas. He received advanced training in Microvascular Reconstructive Surgery through fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr Reece's research interests are focused on understanding correlations between a patient's aesthetic outcome and patient reported outcomes in patients undergoing breast and head and neck cancer surgery. He is also interested in the mechanics of angiogenesis of conventional grafts and tissue engineered constructs.

Dr Haeshin Lee received his BS degree in Biological Sciences at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1996. He received his PhD degree at Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University in 2007. Currently, he is an Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, at KAIST. His research areas include bio-inspired adhesives, surface chemistry, material-independent coating, and drug delivery systems.

Harmen Droogendijk received BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, in respectively 2007 and 2009, where he is currently pursuing the PhD degree. His research interests include (bioinspired) MEMS technology, sensors and actuators, biomimetics and non-linear dynamics.

Dr Helen Harrington received her PhD from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her work has been focused on developing enabling tools and technologies such as analyte responsive nanosensors and ‘self-reporting’ scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. For the past four years Helen has worked towards developing 3D models of lung tissue with a focus on fabricating various biomimetic scaffolds to simulate key structural and functional properties of the lung epithelium.

Dr Helmut Schmitz works as Associate Professor and at the Zoological Institute of Bonn University. He studied biology at the universities of Bochum and Düsseldorf. After having received his diploma degree in Biology in 1986, he went to the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg where he received his PhD in 1991. After a post doc period he went to the University of Bonn in 1996 where he qualified as a university lecturer in 2001. Research areas are thermoregulation and thermoreception in insects with special emphasis on infrared sensory systems in pyrophilous insects. In a biomimetic approach, results are used to build new infrared sensors.

Dr Helmut Soltner studied physics at the Technical University in Aachen. He specialized in solid state physics and earned his PhD degree in 1994 with his investigations of high-temperature superconductor thin films. As a post-doc at the Research Center in Jülich, he investigated topics in biomagnetism and nondestructive evaluation based on SQUID sensors from high-temperature superconductors. In 2001, he joined the staff of the European Spallation Source project. His current position in Jülich involves the design of magnetic devices like e.g. superconducting high-field magnets, permanent magnet assemblies for spin applications, or magnetically shielded enclosures for particle beamlines.

Dr Herbert Bousack was born in Aachen, Germany. He received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in mechanical engineering in 1981 and his PhD degree in 1984, both from theTechnical University of Aachen. In 1982 he joined the Forschungszentrum Jülich, where he was involved in the engineering of prototype facilities and the management of various technical projects in the engineering department. Since 1990 he is head of a sensor systems group, where he was involved in the development of miscellaneous sensor applications, now with main focus on biomimetics.

Dr Hirokazu Kaji is currently an Associate Professor at Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan. He received his PhD (2005) in Bioengineering, MEng (2003) in Biomolecular Engineering, and BEng (2001) in Molecular Chemistry and Engineering from Tohoku University. His current interests include organ on a chip, biohybrid MEMS, and drug and cell delivery systems.

Dr Hongsoo Choi is an Assistant Professor at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology since October 2010. He received his BS (2002) in Mechanical Engineering from Yeungnam University, and a MS (2003) and PhD (2007) from the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Washington State University. He served as a Postdoctoral Scholar at WSU and UC Davis before joining Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials as a Senior Researcher in 2009. His general research area is in BioMEMS, and his current research topics are micro/nano robot, artificial cochlea, micro ultrasonic transducers, electrode array for BMI, and microfluidic device.

Dr Huiliang Wang obtained his Bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1992, and his PhD in radiation chemistry from Beijing Normal University, China, in 1997. He became an Associate and Full Professor at Beijing Normal University, China, in 2000 and 2007, respectively. During 2001 to 2003 he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in Prof. Hugh Brown's group at the University of Wollongong, Australia, carrying out research on surface modification of polymers with photografting method. His research interests are focused on modification of polymers with radiation methods and, recently, on hydrogels with excellent mechanical properties.

Dr Huiqun Yu received the PhD in Computer Science from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1995. From 2001 to 2004, he was a Senior Research Associate in the Center of Advanced Distributed Systems Engineering, a part of School of Computer Science at Florida International University. He is presently a professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology. His research interests include information security, software architecture, and formal methods. Email: yhq@ecust.edu.cn.

Ian McPhee is a Reservoir Engineer at ExxonMobil Development Company. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Utah where he received the J D Seader Leadership and IM Flash Technologies scholarships. His research interests include oil and gas, and energy engineering, and polymers including biomedical polymers. He is a member of AIChE and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).

Dr Il-Kwon Oh graduated from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2001, receiving his PhD in mechanical engineering. He joined LG digital appliance research laboratory as a senior researcher from 2001 and 2004. And then he joined the School of Mechanical System Engineering as a faculty member at Chonnam National University. Currently he is working for Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology as a professor in the school of mechanical aerospace and systems engineering. His research interests include biomimetics and bio-inspired technology, artificial muscles and electro-active polymers, and graphene-based carbon nano-materials.

Dr Ja Hye Myung obtained her BS degree in Pharmacy (2004) and MS degree in Pharmaceutics (2006) at Chungnam National University in Daejeon (Korea). Dr Myung graduated with her PhD at University of Illinois at Chicago in Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences in 2012 and continued as a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Prof. Seungpyo Hong. Her thesis research and postdoctoral work are focused on the development of biomimetic surfaces for the specific capturing of cancer cells. Since 2005, she has seven peer-reviewed articles and one issued patent.

Dr Jae-Hyun Chung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Washington. Dr Chung received his BS in 1995 and MS in 1997 from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. His PhD was earned in 2004 from Northwestern University in the field of electric field guided assembly of molecules. His research interests include mircro/nanoscale manufacturing, molecular manipulation and assembly using an electric field, low-cost disease diagnostics, and bio-sensors and actuators.

Dr Jaeyoun Kim received his PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2003 with his research on fiber-optics and optical communication systems. From 2003 to 2006, he was a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Luke P Lee's BioPOETS group at the University of California at Berkeley. In 2006, he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Iowa State University where he is currently an Associate Professor. He has been consistently pursuing bioinspired systems, plasmonic nanophotonics, and optical MEMS. Dr Kim is the recipient of NSF's Faculty Early Career Award (2010) and Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship (2009).

Dr Jeong Hun Jang is an Assistant Professor at Department of Otorhinolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery College of Medicine Kyungpook National University since March 2012. He graduated College of Medicine Seoul National University at 2001. He received a MS (2009) and PhD (2013) from the College of Medicine Seoul National University. He received a resident training at Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Seoul National University Hospital between 2005–2008. He served as a clinical and research fellow in Department of Otorhinolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery Seoul National University Hospital between 2009–2010. His general research area is otology, and his currently research topics are cochlear implant, otology and neurotology.

Dr Jerome Casas Casas obtained his PhD from the ETH Zurich in 1989. He migrated to the US in 1993, working at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and returned to Europe as full Professor in 1995 in Tours. His research interests span physiology and ecology, including work on the physical ecology of insects; the physiology, behavior and population dynamics of consumer-resource interactions; the sensory ecology of mimetism; and biologically-inspired technology, particularly biomimetic flow sensing. One notable feature of his approach is the blending of natural history with both state-of-the-art technology and modeling.

Dr Jiafu Shi obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University in 2013 under the tutelage of Prof. Zhongyi Jiang. After graduation, he joined the faculty of Tianjin University, and started working at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering. His research interests include biocatalysis and hierarchically structured materials, which are related to environment.

Dr Jian Li obtained a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University in 2010 under the tutelage of Prof. Zhongyi Jiang. He started working at College of Material Science & Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Science & Technology. His main scientific interests include hybrid materials and enzymatic catalysis.

Dr Jin-Hyung Shim received his PhD in Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology. His research interests include extrusion based 3D printing technology for fabrication of biodegradable scaffolds, and its application to cartilage and bone tissue engineering.

Dr João F Mano is an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the University of Minho, Portugal, and is a vice-director of the 3B's Research Group, from the same university. His current research interests include the development of new materials and multidisciplinary concepts for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, where he has been developing bio-instructive and biomimetic biomaterials and surfaces. João F Mano co-authored about 400 papers in international journals, cited about 7000 times (h-index of 41).

Dr Joydip Kundu is presently doing postdoctoral research on retinal tissue engineering under the supervision of Dr Rebecca L. Carrier at Northeastern University, Boston. He is working to develop a decellularized matrix based biomaterial to deliver retinal progenitor cells to the subretinal space. He is investigating the cellular response to the matrices and their ability to integrate within the host retina to restore vision. Prior to joining Carrier lab at Northeastern University, he had postdoctoral research experience at POSTECH, South Korea to develop solid freeform 3D biosynthetic cell printed scaffolds for bone and cartilage regeneration. As a part of his PhD research, he worked on Silk fibroin and sericin protein based matrices for tissue engineering and drug delivery at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. He has published 12 research articles in peer-reviewed high impact journals and authored 3 book chapters.

Julie Antetomaso graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Bioengineering in 2013. During her sophomore year, she began working as an undergraduate researcher in Deok-Ho Kim's laboratory, focusing on the application of nanotopographical cues in tissue engineering. During her senior year, she began researching the use of nanotopography in improving non-viral transfection efficiency as a joint project between Deok-Ho Kim's and Suzie Pun's laboratories.

Dr Julien Serres was born in Aix-en-Provence, France. He obtained an Agrégation in Applied Physics (a high-level competitive examination for recruiting teachers in France) at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Cachan, France, in 2002. He took a Master's degree in Medical Imaging from Paris XI University (Orsay) and a Master's degree in Electronics, Electrotechnics, and Automatic Control Engineering from Paris XI University and the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS Cachan), Orsay, France, in 2003. He obtained the PhD degree from the University of Montpellier II in July 2008.

Dr Junqi Sun was born in Shandong Province, China in 1975. He received his PhD in polymer science in 2001 from Jilin University. He conducted postdoctoral research at RIKEN, Japan, from January 2002 to August 2003. In September 2003, he joined the faculty of Jilin University as a professor. His current research focus is the fabrication of functional films, which includes the development of novel interfacial assembly methods and the fabrication of free-standing films, self-healing coatings and films with integrated wetting and optical functionalities. He serves as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Langmuir.

Dr Kaiming Ye is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Arkansas. His major scholarly contribution includes the creation of 3D scaffolds for directing human embryonic stem cell line-specific differentiation and fluorescent nanosensors for continuous glucose monitoring. He has chaired and co-chaired a number of international conferences and has been invited to deliver keynote/plenary speech in numerous international and national conferences. He is senior member of IEEE.

Dr Katsuya Kawai, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan since 2009. He earned a master's degree and PhD from Kyoto University. He has been researched tissue engineering, and developed a biological materials suitable for regenerated tissue, such as skin or cartilage. He aims clinical application of regenerated tissue in the future.

Khalid Askar was born in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 1987. He attended Rawafed Private School and graduated as salutatorian of his 2005 high school class. Khalid then continued his studies at Purdue University, with a full scholarship from ADNOC, where he did research on molecular simulations of chemical reactions at both equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions. He graduated shortly thereafter with a BS in Chemical Engineering and became a PhD student in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Florida with the prestigious MASDAR Fellowship. His current research interests include colloidal self-assembly, antireflection coatings, shape memory polymers, and optoelectronics.

Dr Kimberley Merrett is a Research Associate within the Griffith lab. She has attended the University of Toronto, University of New Brunswick and University of Ottawa and is trained both as a chemist and chemical engineer. Her work focuses primarily on the research and development of biomaterials, working mainly with collagen-based biomimetic materials.

Dr Kirsten N Cicotte holds a BS in Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences from Clarkson University in 2005 and PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 2013. Kirsten received here PhD under the direction of Dr Elizabeth Hedberg-Dirk in the area novel tunable biodegradable polymer development.

Dr Krystal Gauthier-Bell (Slattery) is a graduating undergraduate student at the University of Washington in biology and earth space science. Her work in the Kim lab utilized stem cell derived cardiomyocytes and lead to a keen interest in other stem cell lines and the use of nanotopography.

Kyle Alberti is a graduate student at Tufts University pursuing a PhD in biomedical engineering under the guidance of Prof. Qiaobing Xu. He received his BS in biomedical engineering in 2011 from Syracuse University. His research interests include tissue engineering, bioinspired fabrication and drug delivery.

Kyuri Kim received her Bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University in Materials Science and Engineering. She is currently in her PhD program in Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and her research focuses on characterization of bioinspired adhesive catechol-conjugates.

Dr Li Buay Koh was a post-doctoral researcher at the Integrative Regenerative Medicine (IGEN) Centre, Linköping University, Sweden from 2010–2013. She received her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering in 2010 from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research interests include biointerfaces, cell-protein surface interactions and surface modifications for applications in biomaterials.

Dr Lei Jiang is a full Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS), and Dean of School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University. He received his PhD from Jilin University in 1994. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Akira Fujishima's group in Tokyo University. In 1996, he worked as a senior researcher in Kanagawa Academy of Sciences and Technology under Prof. Kazuhito Hashimoto. He joined ICCAS in 1999. He was elected academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009 and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in 2012. His scientific interests are bioinspired, smart, multiscale interfacial (BSMI) materials.

Dr Lei Zhang obtained a PhD in Biochemical Engineering from Tianjin University in 2010 under the tutelage of Prof. Zhongyi Jiang. In the following year, she started working at College of Marine Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science & Technology. Her research interests encompass nanostructured materials, enzymatic catalysis and utilization of brine source.

Dr Leonard Pease III is a member of the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Internal Medicine (Gastroenterology & Hepatology), and Pharmaceutics & Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Utah, specializing in advanced biomedical technologies and complex nanomaterials. He received a PhD from Princeton University in Chemical and Materials Engineering and completed a post-doctorate position at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) specializing in high precision characterization of bionanoparticles. Dr Pease has over 60 publications and IP filings with the USPTO completed or in progress and received a Silver Medal from the US Department of Commerce.

Dr Lubin Kerhuel was born and raised in the Paris region of France. He obtained a Bachelor in Science degree in System-on-Chip from ESIEE Paris, and a Master in Science degree in Signal Processing and Numerical Communication from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. He then obtained a doctorate degree in Control Engineering and Microelectronics from the University of Montpellier II. He conducted his PhD research on visual sensors and micro-aerial vehicle adapted control laws within the Biorobotics Laboratory, Institute of Movement Science, CNRS/Aix-Marseille University, Marseille. He is an expert in rapid prototyping technology and developed a Simulink blockset to target Microchip microcontrollers, used worldwide.

Dr Matteo Moretti is head of the Cell and Tissue Engineering Lab at IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopaedic Institute, Milan, Italy. Prior to this he worked as postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard-MIT Div. of Health Science and Technology, Langer Lab. Both of his degrees, B.Eng (Politecnico di Milano) and research MSc (Trinity College Dublin, with Prof. P J Prendergast) are in Bioengineering. He obtained a European PhD from Politecnico di Milano, pursuing his research also in Prof. I Martin's Tissue Engineering Lab at U. Basel. His main research interests lie within osteochondral and cardiovascular tissues and bioreactor technologies. In particular, on engineered tissues, 3D tumor models, tissue vascularization and in multi-scale bioreactor systems aimed at developing microfluidic and traditional tissue bioreactor technologies as a key to more viable and accessible tissue and cell therapies. He is Invited Expert Reviewer for various Governments and Institutions, amongst which EU-FP7, UK BBSRC, Hong Kong ITC, Portugal FCT and ETH Zurich. He has been awarded a number scientific prizes including a N.A.S.A. Tech Brief Award for development of scientific or technical innovations. Industrially, he has been coordinator of EU Projects for Fidia Advanced Biopolymers, has a licensed patent and is co-founder of 2 biotech startups (SKE s.r.l. and CELLEC A.G.) focused on bioreactor technologies.

Mariana B Oliveira is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at the 3B's Research Group, University of Minho, Portugal. She finished her MSc in Biomedical Engineering in 2010, in the same university. Her PhD work focuses on the use of patterned superhydrophobic surfaces as high-throughput platforms to study cells-biomaterials interactions for tissue engineering and biomaterials development purposes.

Dr Martine Daujat-Chavanieu is senior scientist and head of group at the Institute of Research in Biotherapy in Montpellier, France. She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Cellular Biology from the University of Montpellier in 1990 and was promoted to tenure at Inserm in 1993 in the unit of Dr P Maurel, where she specialized in human primary hepatocytes cultures and their use in the studies on the gene regulation of drug metabolizing enzyme systems. More recently her field of research extended to stem cells isolation and differentiation and combines both basic and clinical research.

Mason Burger is a student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Utah and will graduate in spring 2015. Currently, Mason works as a research assistant under the direction of Dr Leonard Pease, pursuing interests in permeability, magnetic resonance imaging, fluid dynamics, algal derived fuels, and sol gels. Mason is a member of the student chapters of the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) and the American Institution of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) and has received the Honors at Entrance, Mark and Alice Isaacson, and IM Flash Technologies undergraduate scholarships.

Dr May Griffith is Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Director of the Integrative Regenerative Medicine (IGEN) Centre at Linköping University (LiU), and Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada. MG's research is in Regenerative Medicine, with special interests in biomaterials enhanced cell-based regeneration. The focus of her research is biomaterials-enabled regeneration, working mainly with collagen-based biomimetic materials. She has successfully led the first-in-human translation into clinic of biosynthetic corneal implants that stimulated regeneration in an organ that normally does not regenerate, in a Phase I clinical trial. MG's biosynthetic materials have also been successfully tested in collaboration with other researchers for use in cardiovascular, skin and cartilage regeneration in animal models to date, in preparation for clinical translation.

Dr Meng Deng received the BS degree in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2004 and the PhD degree in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 2010. He has been a University Postdoctoral Fellow working on regenerative engineering of complex musculoskeletal tissues using integrated graft systems under the guidance of Dr Cato T. Laurencin in the Institute for Regenerative Engineering and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington. His research interests include biomaterials, drug delivery, nanotechnology, and regenerative engineering.

Dr Michael Lau is a gynecologic surgeon in Edmonds, Washington. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist. Dr Lau is a serial entrepreneur and developer of medical devices and has conducted clinical research on the application of lasers, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), and microwaves to surgery. He is an author of several publications, US patents, and patent applications.

Ming-jay Chow received his B.A. degree in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in 2005, and M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University in 2008. He is currently finishing his PhD study in Mechanical Engineering in the Multi-Scale Tissue Biomechanics Lab with Dr Yanhang Zhang at Boston University. His research emphasizes characterizing the mechanical behavior of arterial tissue with a focus on the contributions and roles of elastin and collagen in the extracellular matrix.

Dr Mitsuhiko Shionoya is Professor of the Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo (1999–present). After receiving his BS and MS degrees from the University of Tokyo, he was appointed as Assistant Professor at Hiroshima University in 1986 (PhD, 1990). He was there promoted to Associate Professor (1994), and to Professor (1995) at the Institute for Molecular Science. He is currently Senior Program Officer of RCSS/JSPS and Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry Letters. His main research activities focus on the development of bioinspired supramolecular architectures.

Dr Naoki Morimoto, MD, PhD, is Assistant Professor of the Department of Plastic Surgery, Kansai Medical University, Hirakata, Japan since 2012.

Dr Nicanor Quijano received his BS degree in Electronics Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ), Bogotá, Colombia, in 1999. He received the MS and PhD degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University, in 2002 and 2006, respectively. In 2007, he joined the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Universidad de los Andes (UAndes), Bogotá, Colombia as an Assistant Professor. He is currently an Associate Professor, the director of the research group in control and automation systems (GIAP, UAndes), and the chair of the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS), Colombia. His research interests include hierarchical and distributed optimization methods, using bio-inspired and game-theoretical techniques for dynamic resource allocation, applied to problems in energy, water, and transportation.

Dr Nicolas Franceschini was born in Mâcon, France. He graduated in electronics and control theory and received a Dr es Sciences Physiques from the National Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble. He switched to neuroscience and neuroethology with a 13 year-long stay at the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen. On moving back to France, he founded the Neurocybernetics lab — and later the Biorobotics lab — at CNRS, Marseille. His research interests include neural information processing, sensory-motor control systems, vision, eye movements, micro-optics, neuromorphic circuits, biologically-inspired robots and insect inspired autopilots, with their potential applications to air and space vehicles. Since 1985 he has largely contributed to the foundation of bio-inspired robotics. He is a member of the Academia Europaea.

Dr Patrick Lin received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1990.Hedid residency training in orthopaedic surgery at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and fellowship training at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr Paul A Cato received his MSc in Immunology and Allergy at the University of Nottingham followed by a PhD in developing 3D models of the human upper respiratory tract. His research interests currently include the immunological aspects of airway disease, mechanisms of pathogenesis and immune dysfunction in chronic lung disease.

Dr Peng Jiang is currently an Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Florida. He obtained his PhD in materials chemistry at Rice University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Chemical Engineering Department at Princeton University. After working at Corning and General Electric for a few years, he started his academic career in 2006. His current research interests include self-assembled photonic crystals and plasmonic crystals, biomimetic materials, and scalable nanomanufacturing.

Petra Kerscher received her BS at Clemson University in 2011, where she was an undergraduate research assistant working on synthesizing and stabilizing metallic nanoparticles for biomedical research. In 2011, Petra started her graduate studies at Auburn University where she is using biomimetic hydrogels to direct differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells into cardiomyocytes. In 2012, Petra received a pre-doctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association to create a tissue-engineered model of the developing human heart; she is using this model to investigate the effects of teratogens known to cause congenital heart defects on cardiac differentiation.

Dr Qiaobing Xu is currently an Assistant Professor in Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. He also holds adjunction assistant professor position in Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and School of Medicine at Tufts University. He obtained his PhD in chemistry under the guidance of Prof. George Whitesides from Harvard University where he invented “Nanoskiving”, a novel technology to fabricate functional nanomaterials. From 2007–2010, he was a Cancer Center for Nanotechnology Excellence postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Robert Langer at MIT, where he worked on developing novel nanomaterials for drug delivery applications. He joined Tufts in September, 2010. His current research interests lie at the intersection of material science engineering, specifically micro/nanoscience, and biomedical application. His work involves using combinatorial method to develop novel materials for the delivery of therapeutic biomacromolecules and using nanotechnology to develop novel biomaterials for tissue engineering. He received Charlton Award from Tufts University School of Medicine in 2012 and named the Pew Scholar for Biomedical Sciences from Pew Charitable Trusts in 2013.

Dr Rajeev Kumar received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas Arlington in 2008. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arizona. He received his Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and worked as a Research Scientist at National Aerospace Laboratories at Bangalore. Rajeev's research interests include computational fluid dynamics, experimental aerodynamics and finite element methods. Some of his publications can be found in the Journal of Aircraft, International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, and AIAA as well as ASME conference publications.

Dr R K Jaganatharaja was born in India where he earned his Bachelors in Electronics and Communication Engineering in 2002. He then pursued his MSc degree in Microelectronics and Microsystems from Hamburg–Harburg University of Technology (TUHH), Hamburg, Germany in 2006. He completed his PhD, on development of biomimetic flow-sensor arrays and viscosity-mediated coupling, in 2011 at the Transducer Science and Technology group of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, the Netherlands. He is currently working in the EUV imaging team at ASML Netherlands, Veldhoven.

Dr Rodolfo A Elizondo did his medicine degree in Mexico. He then pursued a research fellow with Prof. May Griffith at the Integrative Regenerative Medicine Center (IGEN) in Linköping, Sweden from 2011–2012. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Professor Mitchell Watsky's laboratory at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and then Georgia Regents University. His research interests are cornea cell culture and isolation of stem cells, tight junctions and gap junctions.

Dr Roshan James received the BTech. degree in biotechnology and biochemical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, in 2001 and the PhD degree in bioengineering from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, in 2012. He has been a University Postdoctoral Fellow working on musculoskeletal regeneration under the guidance of Dr Cato T Laurencin in the Institute for Regenerative Engineering and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at the University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington. His research interests include biomaterial synthesis, regenerative medicine, and technology entrepreneurship.

Dr Ryan M Pearson is a PhD Candidate in the group of Professor Seungpyo Hong in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his BS degree in Chemical Engineering from the same University in 2008. His research currently focuses on the development of novel dendrimers and dendron-based copolymers to control physiochemical and biological properties. He has co-authored seven peer-reviewed articles and one book chapter since 2009.

Dr Ryan Randall is a researcher of micro air vehicle aerodynamics, as well a model aviation enthusiast. He received his Master's Degree from the University of Arizona in December 2010 and is currently pursuing his PhD Some of his published works can be found in the Journal of Aircraft, International Journal of Micro Air Vehicles, and AIAA conference publications.

Dr S Prakash Parthiban is currently a Research Associate in Ali Khademhosseini's laboratory at WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University, Japan. He earned his PhD in Materials Science at Nagoya University, Japan in 2012. His current research is on engineering 3D hydrogel systems with short peptides to control endothelial cell behavior and vessel formation. He has received the Monbukagakusho Scholarship for his doctoral study from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.

Dr Sabine Gerbal-Chaloin is a senior researcher in the group of Hepatic Differentiation of Stem Cells and Biotherapy of Liver Diseases at the Institute of Research in Biotherapy, Montpellier, France. She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Cellular Biology at the University of Montpellier in 2000. She has contributed to the understanding of drug metabolizing enzymes regulation by nuclear receptors. She is now involved in the development of strategies to differentiate stem cells to hepatocyte phenotype in order to obtain in vitro cell models for drug screening and for the treatment of liver diseases.

Dr Samad Ahadian received his PhD in Materials Science from Tohoku University, Japan in 2011. During his PhD studies, he was supported by the prestigious fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Since 2011, he is working with Professor Ali Khademhosseini as a research associate at WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Japan. His research interests are tissue engineering, biomedical microdevices, and biomaterials. He is the author of more than 20 refereed journal papers that have been published in top and leading journals in the field, such as Tissue Engineering, Lab on a Chip, Nano Letters, and Advanced Materials.

Dr Sameer Shah is currently a faculty member in the Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery and Bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego. He and his research group study the function, dysfunction, and repair of the neuromuscular system, using a cross-disciplinary approach at molecular, cellular, and tissue scales. Sameer completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his PhD from the University of California, San Diego in Bioengineering, in 2002, for his research on biomechanical roles of skeletal muscle intermediate filaments. Sameer stayed on at UCSD for his post-doctoral training, researching mechanisms of neuronal degeneration and the regulation of axonal transport. Prior to returning to UCSD, Sameer was a faculty member in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he built a successful, independent research program by merging his interests in neurobiology, biomechanics, and neuromuscular function.

Dr Sangamesh G Kumbar received the PhD degree from Polymer Research Group, Center of Excellence in Polymer Science, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India, in 2003. He worked as a Scientist at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune, India before joining Dr Cato T Laurencin's research group at the University of Virginia as a Research Associate. In 2008, he joined the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Materials and Biomedical Engineering and the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences at the University of Connecticut as an Assistant Professor (tenure track). His research is focused on synthesis and characterization of novel biomaterials/polymers/nanostructures for regenerative engineering and drug delivery. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology and is the editor of the book Natural and Synthetic Biomedical Polymers.

Ms Seonki Hong is a PhD candidate in Department of Chemistry at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). She received her BS in Chemistry from KAIST in 2009. Her research interests include development of novel mussel-inspired surface functionalized materials, and molecular-level investigation of the mechanisms of catecholamine adhesive materials.

Dr Serge Ostrovidov received his PhD degree in biology and health from Nancy University, France, for which he worked on the antioxidative properties of new selenated molecules. From 1998 to 2001, he worked in immunology at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA, on the role of oxidative metabolites in altering the immune response. He moved then to Japan where he worked on BioMEMS during several years at the University of Tokyo. During 5 years he was a scientist at Pentax Corporation working mainly on biomaterials as hydroxyapatite and polyethylene terephthalate. He is currently working on biomaterials and tissues engineering in the Khademhosseini laboratory at WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research in Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Dr Sergey V Shkarayev is a Professor at the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arizona. He earned his PhD at the Moscow Aviation Institute, Russia and his MS and DSc at the Kharkov Aviation Institute, Ukraine. Dr Shkarayev is an expert in the area aerodynamics, structural mechanics, and design of micro air vehicles. He has coauthored 5 books, more than 40 journal papers, and 45 refereed conference papers.

Dr Seungpyo Hong is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He graduated from Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea with MS and BS degrees in polymer engineering in 1999 and 2001, respectively. After working as a researcher at Korea Institute Science and Technology (KIST), he started his PhD at the University of Michigan working with his advisors Profs. Mark Banaszak Holl and James Baker. Dr Hong graduated with his PhD in Macromolecular Science and Engineering in 2006 and joined MIT as a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Prof. Robert Langer. Since 2008, he has led a research group at UIC under the major research theme of “Biomimetic Nanotechnology” for cancer treatment. To date, Prof. Hong's research has culminated in over 45 peer-reviewed articles, 4 book chapters, and 10 issued or pending patents, while presenting over 50 invited talks and over 100 conference proceedings.

Dr Sha Jin has completed her PhD from Kyushu Institute of technology in Japan and postdoctoral studies from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of Arkansas. She has published more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals in the field of stem cells and bioinspired materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, nanosensor development, drug delivery, and vaccine development.

Dr Shawn M Dirk received his BS in chemistry at Millersville University of Pennsylvania in 1998 and his PhD in chemistry from Rice University in 2002 under the guidance of Professor James M Tour, working on the development of small conjugated molecules for molecular electronic applications. He is currently manager of the Applied Science and Technology Maturation Department at Sandia National Laboratories. His research has focused on organic materials development in the areas of surface chemistry, self-assembly, sensor science, molecular electronics, nanocomposites, biomaterials and electronic material development.

Dr Shigehiko Suzuki, MD, PhD, is Professor of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan since 2003.

Dr Stéphane Viollet was born in Limoges, France. He received the Master's degree in control engineering from the University of Bordeaux 1, Bordeaux, France, and the PhD degree from the National Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble, France, in September 2001. He is currently the head of the Biorobotics Department, Institute of Movement Science, CNRS/Aix-Marseille University, Marseille. His current research interests include biorobotics, oculomotor control, and retinal micromovements, as well as the development of novel bioinspired visual sensors and control laws for implementation onboard autonomous flying robots.

Stephen Balmert is currently a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow and doctoral candidate in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. After receiving a BS in Bioengineering with Honors from the University of Pittsburgh in 2010, he joined the laboratory of Steven R. Little, PhD for his graduate studies. His thesis research focuses on controlled drug delivery and biomimetic systems for immunotherapeutic applications, with an emphasis on novel strategies to induce local immune tolerance.

Dr Stephen Buerger holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton and an MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work at MIT included the development of novel actuators and control theory to enable physical interaction between humans and robots, and application of these systems to physical therapy robots used to aid neuro-rehabilitation in stroke patients. He is currently a Principal Member of the Technical Staff in the Intelligent Systems, Robotics and Cybernetics group at Sandia National Laboratories, where he conducts research and development in robotics, control systems, sensors and biomedical technologies. His work includes the development of energy efficient robots, distributed control systems for multi-agent systems, novel sensors and implantable medical devices.

Dr Steven Little received his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005 under the mentorship of Robert Langer. He currently holds the position of Associate Professor and CNG Faculty Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh in the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, Immunology, Opthalmology and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He is also the Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering. His laboratory focuses on advanced drug-delivery strategies, including biomimetic systems, as applied to both immunotherapeutics and regenerative medicine.

Dr Tae-Rin Lee is a Research Associate at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute (TMHRI) in USA. Dr Lee received his BS in 2004, MS in 2006 and PhD in 2010 from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea. His research interest is in the computational approaches for nanomedicine design, fluid-structure interaction, and parallel processing.

Tajila Mullahkhel is a senior in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Utah graduating in December 2013. She intends to pursue graduate studies in Chemical Engineering focused on enhancing the biocompatibility of biomedical polymers used in medical devices. Tajila is currently interning for Fresenius Medical Care in Ogden Utah, a major provider of kidney dialysis services and renal care products. Her research evaluates the biocompatibilities of polyurethanes and the influence of pressure and temperature on polymer production. Tajila is a member of AIChE.

Dr Takamichi NAKAMOTO received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in 1982 and 1984, respectively, and his PhD degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. He worked for Hitachi from 1984 to 1987. In 1987, he joined Tokyo Institute of Technology as a Research Associate. In 1993, he became an Associate Professor with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology. From 1996 to 1997, he was a Visiting Scientist at Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, WA, USA. He is currently a Professor with Precision & Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Dr Thibaut Raharijaona was born in Besançon, France. He received a Master's degree in Engineering, automatics and signal processing from the school of engineering called Telecom Physique Strasbourg, in September 2001. He obtained the PhD degree in control engineering from Paris XI University at the department of Automatics of Supélec in November 2004. He is currently lecturer in the Biorobotics Department, Institute of Movement Science, CNRS/Aix-Marseille University, Marseille. His current research interests include multi-objective control system design, biomimetics robotics, guidance and control of UAVs, lunar landing and aerospace applications.

Thomas Bachmann born 01 December 1980 in Bonn, Germany studied Biology and Biomimicry at the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität (Muenster, Germany) and at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (Aachen, Germany) from 2001–2006. He received his doctoral degree from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (Aachen, Germany) in 2010 on the silent flight of owl. He was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics at the Technische Universtät Darmstadt (Darmstadt, Germany) from 2010–2012. He has been working for the Automotive Industry (GM Europe) since 2012.

Dr Thomas Steinmann is interested in sensory ecology, and more precisely on how properties of both signals involved in animal communication (intra and inter specic), and medium of propagation influence signal transmission and perception. Specifically, he studies vibratory communication and prey-predator interactions. He uses dedicated tools such as Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to study complex flow phenomena around insects and their predators, e.g., crickets and running spiders, but also applies these techniques to characterize airflow over Micro Electro-Mechanical Sensors (MEMS) in the context of his work on bioinspired sensors.

Dr Toshinori Fujie received his PhD degree (Engineering) from Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan) in 2009. During the PhD course, he worked on the development of wound dressing materials consisting of ultra-thin polymeric films for tissue-defect repair. In 2010, he moved to Center for Micro-BioRobotics at Italian Institute of Technology (Pisa, Italy) as a postdoctoral researcher, where he worked on muscular tissue engineering for biorobotics application. From 2012, he is working with Prof. Khademhosseini at WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research in Tohoku University (Sendai, Japan) as a research associate. His research interests are dedicated to the development of innovative biomaterials toward tissue engineering and regenerative medicine by utilizing polymer chemistry, microfabrication techniques and bio-inspired/mimetic engineering.

Dr Vassilios Sikavitsas is Associate Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department and the School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering. His current research focuses in the areas of tissue engineering using adult stem cells and biomimetic biomaterials focusing in orthopedic and dental applications. He is particularly interested in the utilization of biomechanical forces in bioreactors to direct the differentiation of adult stem cells towards the osteoblastic, tenocytic, and chondrocytic lineages. He received his BS in Chemical Engineering from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, and his MS and PhD from the Chemical Engineering Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has been a postdoctoral research fellow at the Bioengineering Department at Rice University working in the area of bone tissue engineering.

Dr Wei Guo is currently an Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS). He received a PhD in physics from Peking University in 2009. Afterwards, he joined Prof. Lei Jiang's group in ICCAS. His scientific interests are focused on nanofluidic transport phenomena, intelligent nanofluidic devices, 2D nanomaterials, and their applications on advanced energy conversion systems.

Dr Weisong Pan, Male, 32y, PhD, is lecturer in Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, NUDT, China. He received his PhD from Peking Union Medical College in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in China in 2010, and was visiting scholar at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden in 2012. Research interest focuses on molecular mechanism of cryptochromes involved in geomagnetic navigation of animals. Email: joux19@163.com.

Weiwei Wang is currently a PhD student and graduate research assistant of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She received Bachelor of Medicine degree in Clinical Medicine from Chongqing Medical University in Chongqing, China in 2006, and MS degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, in 2009. Her current research focuses on developing 3D biological scaffolds for induced differentiation of human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells into pancreatic lineages for diabetic cell therapy. She is a member of America Biomedical Engineering Society.

Dr Wenjian Wu, PhD, is Professor, and Head of the Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, NUDT, China. He received his PhD from the Central South University in China in 1994, was visiting Professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand in 2010, and is serving as Vice Chairman of the Applied Chemistry Committee of Chinese Chemistry Society from 2004. He majored in bionic biology, focusing on researches of bionic sensation, bionic material, and bionic structure. Email: wjwu67@126.com.

Dr Wing Kam Liu is the Walter P Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University, Vice President of IACM, Founding Director of the NSF Summer Institute on Nano Mechanics Nano Materials, and Micro/Nano Manufacturing, Founding Chairman of the prestigious ASME NanoEngineering Council, and Founding Co-Director of the Northwestern University Predictive Science and Engineering Design Program. He is a Visiting Distinguished World Class University Professor of Sung Kyun Kwan University (SKKU), Korea, and an Adjunct Professor under the Distinguished Scientists Program Committee at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He is the editor of the Journal of Computational Mechanics, International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics and other journals.

Dr Won Joon Song received his BS (1995) and MS (1997) degrees in mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea, and PhD (2010) degree in mechanical engineering from University of Cincinnati, OH, USA. Before joining the PhD program, he worked at BOSCH, Cheongwon, Korea from 1997 to 2003 as an R&D engineer. He served as a researcher at Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials, Daejeon, Korea from 2010 until October 2011. He works as a research scholar at Institute for Fusion Technology for Production in Hanbat National University, Daejeon, Korea since November 2011. His research interests include auditory system modeling, cochlear mechanics, artificial cochlea, occupational and military hearing loss assessment, combustion instability monitoring, and flame image processing.

Dr Xiang Feng received the PhD degree in Control Theory and Engineering from East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, in 2006. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Computer Science of the University of Hong Kong from 2006 to 2008. She is presently a Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology. Her research interests include mechanics-related nature-inspired algorithm, parallel and distributed computing and computer networks. Email: xfeng@ecust.edu.cn.

Dr Xianli Du, PhD, is a student in the biomedical engineering in the Department of Chemistry and Biology, NUDT, China. Graduated from Sun Yat-Sen University in China in 2006, received M.E from NUDT in 2008, one-year research experience in University of California, Los Angeles, USA, from 2011 to 2012. Research interest focuses on the photoreception and magnetoreception of migratory birds. Email: xldu@nudt.edu.cn.

Dr Xiuli Wang received her bachelor degree from Dalian Medical University and PhD degree in Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She has worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arkansas and Tufts University.

Dr Xu Wang received his PhD in Polymer Chemistry and Physics in 2012 from Jilin University, under the supervision of Prof. Junqi Sun. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. His research interests include synthesis and self-assembly of block copolymers, and fabrication of stimuli-responsive films for drug delivery and self-healing.

Dr Yahui Man, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), China. Yahui received a PhD in materials science and engineering from NUDT in 2003, was visiting scientist at the Johns Hopkins University (USA) in 2012. Yahui majored in bionic biology, focusing on bionic olfactory sensing technology. Email: yahuiman@126.com.

Dr Yan Liu, PhD, is a Lecturer in Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, NUDT, China. Received PhD from Tsinghua University in China in 2011, studied in University of Wisconsin at Madison in US during 2007–2009. Research interests include olfactory signal transduction and bionic sensors. Email: liuyan83@gmail.com.

Dr Yanhang Zhang is an Associate Professor of Departments of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Multi-Scale Tissue Biomechanics Laboratory at Boston University. Dr Zhang received her BS degree in Engineering Mechanics from Tsinghua University, China in 1998; and MS and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder in 2000 and 2003. She was a Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Boston University from 2006–2011. Dr Zhang's research has focused on multi-scale mechanics and mechanobiology of extracellular matrix and vasculature. She is the recipient of prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from NSF in 2010, and Young Faculty Award from DARPA in 2007.

Dr Yanjun Jiang obtained a PhD in Biochemical Engineering at the Tianjin University in 2009 under the tutelage of Prof. Zhongyi Jiang. He started working at School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, HeBei University of Technology, where he is currently an associate professor in biochemical engineering. His research interests include biocatalysis, biomass and bioenergy. He has coauthored more than 30 SCI papers with h-index of 10.

Dr Yang Li was born in 1984 in Liaoning Province, China. In 2012, He received his PhD in Polymer Chemistry and Physics from Jilin University, under the supervision of Prof. Junqi Sun. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellowat Sungkyunkwan University. His research interests are self-assembly of organic and inorganic materials and bioinspired intelligent materials.

Dr Yunqiu Li, PhD, is a Lecturer in Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, NUDT, China. Yunqiu received a PhD in biomedical engineering from Wuhan University, China in 2010. Yunqiu has one year of research experience in the Ludwig Maximilian Universitaet Muenchen as an exchange student in Germany. After attaining a PhD in defense, Yunqiu visited Tokyo University, Japan as a summer student in 2010. Yunqiu's research interests focus on the protein, cryptochrome, involved in water transpiration. Email: liyunqiu83@yahoo.com.cn.

Dr Yusuke Takezawa is Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo (2010–present). He obtained his PhD (2008) from the University of Tokyo. He was also a JSPS Research Fellow from 2005 to 2008. He spent one and half years at the Research Center for Materials Science, Nagoya University, and then moved to Systems and Structural Biology Center, RIKEN. In 2010, he was appointed to his current position. His current research interest is the development of metal-modified DNA supramolecules.

Dr Zhiming Liu, PhD, is a Lecturer in Department of Chemistry and Biology, College of Science, NUDT, China. Zhiming received a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from NUDT in 2009, and was visiting PhD student at the School of Chemistry, in the University of Bristol, UK, between 2008 and 2009. Zhiming majored in bionic biology, focusing on bionic materials and bionic structures. Email: liuzhiming1979@126.com.

Dr Zhongyi Jiang is a Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology of Tianjin University. He obtained a PhD from Tianjin University in 1994. He was a visiting scholar of University of Minnesota with Prof. Edward Cussler in 1997 and a visiting scholar of California Institute of Technology with Prof. David Tirrell in 2009. His research interest encompasses biomimetic and bioinspired membranes and membrane processes, nanostructured materials and biocatalysis. Till now, he has coauthored over 220 SCI papers, with a total citation time of over 3300 and h-index of 32.