Dr. Ali Khademhosseini
CEO and Founding Director
Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation
Engineered materials that integrate advances in polymer chemistry, nanotechnology, and biological sciences have the potential to create powerful medical therapies. Dr. Khademhosseini is interested in developing ‘personalized’ solutions that utilize micro- and nanoscale technologies to enable a range of therapies for organ failure, cardiovascular disease and cancer. In enabling this vision he works closely with clinicians (including interventional radiologists, cardiologists and surgeons). For example, he has developed numerous techniques in controlling the behavior of patient-derived cells to engineer artificial tissues and cell-based therapies.
His group also aims to engineer tissue regenerative therapeutics using water-containing polymer networks called hydrogels that can regulate cell behavior. Specifically, he has developed photo-crosslinkable hybrid hydrogels that combine natural biomolecules with nanoparticles to regulate the chemical, biological, mechanical and electrical properties of gels. These functional scaffolds induce the differentiation of stem cells to desired cell types and direct the formation of vascularized heart or bone tissues.
Since tissue function is highly dependent on architecture, he has also used microfabrication methods, such as microfluidics, photolithography, bioprinting, and molding, to regulate the architecture of these materials. He has employed these strategies to generate miniaturized tissues. To create tissue complexity, he has also developed directed assembly techniques to compile small tissue modules into larger constructs. It is anticipated that such approaches will lead to the development of next-generation regenerative therapeutics and biomedical devices.
BIO INFO
Ali Khademhosseini is the CEO of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation. Formerly, he was Levi Knight Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, and Radiology at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). He was the Founding Director of the Center for Minimally Invasive Therapeutics at UCLA.
He joined UCLA starting from Nov. 2017 from Harvard University where he was a Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and faculty at the Harvard-MIT’s Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) as well as an associate faculty at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. At Harvard University, he directed the Biomaterials Innovation Research Center (BIRC) a leading initiative in making engineered biomedical materials.
He is a leader in applying bioengineering solutions to precision medicine. His large and interdisciplinary group is interested in developing ‘personalized’ solutions that utilize micro- and nanoscale technologies to enable a range of therapies for organ failure, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. He has also pioneered various high-performance biomaterials that can respond to each patient’s needs.
Dr. Khademhosseini’s interdisciplinary research has been recognized by over 60 major national and international awards. He is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor given by the US government for early-career investigators. In 2007, he was named a TR35 recipient by the Technology Review Magazine as one of the world’s top young innovators. In 2011, he received the Pioneers of Miniaturization Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) for his contribution to microscale tissue engineering and microfluidics. In 2016, he received the Sr. Scientist Award of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society-Americas (TERMIS-AM) and in 2017 he received the Clemson Award of the Society for Biomaterials. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE), Materials Research Society (MRS), NANOSMAT Society, and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is also the recipient of the Mustafa Prize ($500,000 prize) as well as a member of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, Royal Society of Canada, and Canadian Academy of Engineering.
https://terasaki.org/institute/ali
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