Dr. Ouyang is currently an Associate Professor (to be tenured) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University (2017), postdoctoral training in Materials and Bioengineering at Imperial College London (2017-2020), and a visiting research training in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania (2015-2016). His research interests include the design, fabrication, and application of complex biomaterial and cellular systems, with a central focus on the development of 3D bioprinting and advanced biofabrication technologies for engineering in vitro living systems. He has published a series of peer-reviewed articles in well-recognized journals, including Science Advances, Advanced Materials, Materials Today, and Trends in Biotechnology, with a total citation of 3900+ and an H-index of 22. He is currently an Associate Editor of Biomaterials Advances and the International Journal of Bioprinting. He has been recognized with a series of awards, including the ISBF New Investigator Award (2021), IOP Top Cited Author Award (2018), Distinguished Doctorate of Tsinghua University (2017), and GE Foundation TECH Award First Place (2016).

Topic title: Enabling bioinks with tunable mechanical and topological cues for 3D cell culture and vascularization

Abstract:

3D bioprinting has opened an avenue for engineering 3D tissues in a freeform manner. Despite the recent progress in enabling printing techniques, there is still a great demand for available bioinks towards desirable cell culture and tissue functionalization. Driven by biological outcomes, various bioink formulations are developed in favor of physical printability and cellular functionality. In this talk, I will first introduce two typical bioprinting windows regarding the properties of bioinks and bioprints, highlighting some of our work on expanding the windows. With a further focus on the innovation of bioinks, I will introduce our recent work on formulating dynamically crosslinked and granular hydrogels for 3D bioprinting applications.