Yuan Pang is current an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University.  Dr. Pang received Ph.D. degree in Bio-engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2013 and did her postdoc fellowship at the Institute of Industry and Science, University of Tokyo in 2013-2015. She started her work as an Assistant Professor at Bio-manufacturing center in Tsinghua University since 2016.  Her research interests focus on developing new methods, technologies and explore new applications in the field of biomanufacturing and 3D bioprinting.  She aims at in vitro construction of functional micro-organ/tissues, and further use them towards tissue repair, drug delivery and screening, pathology and inflammation study.  She has published more than 30 high-impact SCI papers as the first and corresponding authors including Nature Review Immunology, Gut, International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, Chemical Engineering Jounral, Nano Research, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Biofabrication in the last 5 years. During her research carrier, she got several scientific awards such as 2022 Science and Technology Nova of Beijing, 2020 Young Researcher Award by Lush Prize, Young Scientific Award of International Society of Biomaterials, publication awards of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society- Asia Pacific.  She now serves as the committee member of Chinese Society of Toxicity Testing and Alternatives, and the committee member of Micro/Nano Manufacturing Branch of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineering.

Topic title: Biofabrication for Tumor Precision Medicine

Abstract:

Research on the pathophysiology of cancer, development of new diagnostic and treatment methods, as well as anti-cancer drugs are in an ascendant trend. Exclusively, "one-size-fits-all" treatments lead to low overall survival benefits of patients, which are still grim reality encountered in cancer clinical treatments. The lack of effective in vitro tumor models is one of the critical bottlenecks hindering tumor research and treatments, which raises the urgent demand for an in vitro tumor model with the simulated microenvironment closely replicating the parental characteristics such as the histological morphology and genetic information of the patients.

Facing the requirements towards practical applications of in vitro personalized malignant tumor models, based on the in vitro reconstruction mechanisms of biomimetic tumor microenvironment and the biophysical/biochemical regulation mechanisms of tumor stem cell growth and development that contributes to organoid formation, we established a 3D bioprinting method for construction of personalized tumor organoid models, and realized high-throughput drug screening for different patients. Different types of tumor models, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, renal cell carcinoma and pancreatic cancer models, have been successfully generated through the established 3D bioprinting process. On basis of these, personalized drug delivery strategies and translational research of new treatment methods were carried out, the development and metastasis regulation mechanisms of tumors in sequential pathological stages were investigated, and the hepatotoxicity research platform of anti-cancer drugs was developed, providing new technical methods and application foundations for personalized tumor treatments and preclinical drug research.