Dong Sung Kim
Dong Sung Kim, Ph.D.
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea
Email: smkds@postech.ac.kr
Biography:
Dr. Dong Sung Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH, Korea. He received all his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. (Advisor: the late Prof. Tai Hun Kwon) from POSTECH in 1999, 2001, and 2005, respectively, developing disposable plastic labs-on-a-chip for blood typing. After one year of post-doc in POSTECH, he joined the School of Mechanical Engineering at Chung-Ang University in Korea as a faculty member. After 4 years in Chung-Ang University as a Full-time Lecturer and an Assistant Professor, he came back to POSTECH as a faculty member in 2010. His current research is basically focused on the development of polymer micro/nanofabrication and its utilization in bio-engineering and energy harvesting. He intensively studied on the biomedical fields with micro/nano polymer processing, such as polystyrene micro/nanoengineered cell culture platforms, electrospun nanofiber structures, multifunctional stimuli-responsive structures, and disposable lab on a chip. Prof. Kim has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal papers, registered 27 patents including 3 US patents, and served on the editorial/advisory board of several international journals and symposia.
Abstract:
Electrolyte-assisted Electrospun Nanofiber Membrane for Organ-on-a-chip and Tissue Regeneration
Interactions between cells and their surrounding microenvironment play the fundamental roles to regulate the cell fate and functions. Among the various fabrication strategies to mimic the in vivo microenvironment, electrospinning provides the simplest way to ECM-mimetic structure, which possesses nanofibrillar structures. Here, we suggest a novel electrolyte-assisted electrospinning (ELES) process, which enabled to build in vivo-mimetic organ-on-a-chips and further apply to the regeneration of in vivo muscle tissue. Conventional electrospinning process generally produced a nanofiber membrane that was strongly adhered to the grounded metal surface, and thus, inevitably required post-processing, such as detachment and handling, to integrate the nanofiber membrane with in vitro cell culture platform. However, the ELES process facilitated the direct fabrication of a nanofiber membrane on the desired platform owing to the role of the electrolyte solution as a sacrificial grounded collector. Using the ELES process, the free-standing nanofiber membrane was readily integrated with in vitro cell culture platform such as a microfluidics chip and a transwell insert. On the nanofiber membrane-integrated cell culture platforms, we developed two different types of in vitro models, a blood vessel-on-a-chip and a choroidal neovascularization model, mimicking physiological properties of in vivo microenvironment. Further improvement of the ELES process enabled to generate a 3D artificial muscle construct covered by a permeable electrospun nanofiber membrane. The 3D artificial muscle construct was successfully transplanted inside the gastrocnemius muscle of rat without any inflammatory response.
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea
Email: smkds@postech.ac.kr
Biography:
Dr. Dong Sung Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH, Korea. He received all his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. (Advisor: the late Prof. Tai Hun Kwon) from POSTECH in 1999, 2001, and 2005, respectively, developing disposable plastic labs-on-a-chip for blood typing. After one year of post-doc in POSTECH, he joined the School of Mechanical Engineering at Chung-Ang University in Korea as a faculty member. After 4 years in Chung-Ang University as a Full-time Lecturer and an Assistant Professor, he came back to POSTECH as a faculty member in 2010. His current research is basically focused on the development of polymer micro/nanofabrication and its utilization in bio-engineering and energy harvesting. He intensively studied on the biomedical fields with micro/nano polymer processing, such as polystyrene micro/nanoengineered cell culture platforms, electrospun nanofiber structures, multifunctional stimuli-responsive structures, and disposable lab on a chip. Prof. Kim has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal papers, registered 27 patents including 3 US patents, and served on the editorial/advisory board of several international journals and symposia.
Abstract:
Electrolyte-assisted Electrospun Nanofiber Membrane for Organ-on-a-chip and Tissue Regeneration
Interactions between cells and their surrounding microenvironment play the fundamental roles to regulate the cell fate and functions. Among the various fabrication strategies to mimic the in vivo microenvironment, electrospinning provides the simplest way to ECM-mimetic structure, which possesses nanofibrillar structures. Here, we suggest a novel electrolyte-assisted electrospinning (ELES) process, which enabled to build in vivo-mimetic organ-on-a-chips and further apply to the regeneration of in vivo muscle tissue. Conventional electrospinning process generally produced a nanofiber membrane that was strongly adhered to the grounded metal surface, and thus, inevitably required post-processing, such as detachment and handling, to integrate the nanofiber membrane with in vitro cell culture platform. However, the ELES process facilitated the direct fabrication of a nanofiber membrane on the desired platform owing to the role of the electrolyte solution as a sacrificial grounded collector. Using the ELES process, the free-standing nanofiber membrane was readily integrated with in vitro cell culture platform such as a microfluidics chip and a transwell insert. On the nanofiber membrane-integrated cell culture platforms, we developed two different types of in vitro models, a blood vessel-on-a-chip and a choroidal neovascularization model, mimicking physiological properties of in vivo microenvironment. Further improvement of the ELES process enabled to generate a 3D artificial muscle construct covered by a permeable electrospun nanofiber membrane. The 3D artificial muscle construct was successfully transplanted inside the gastrocnemius muscle of rat without any inflammatory response.