The Society For Biomaterials is excited to host the 2022 Annual Meeting at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront April 27-30, 2022, in Baltimore, MD. The “Biomaterials for Organoids” session was well-recognized in the 2021 SFB meeting and is an exciting emerging research area. In 2022, we will continue this session and promote translational research to biomaterials-mediated organoid projects’ commercial viability. You are welcome to submit your abstract at https://2022.biomaterials.org/. See you in Baltimore!

This week, at the 2021 Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting, Dr. Wang did a presentation using gut organoids as a platform for evaluating the delivery of nanoparticles to treat inflammatory bowel disease. The research took advantage of gut organoids as an ex vivo platform to evaluate nanoparticles absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) screening by gut epithelial cells while focusing on the effect of particle charges. Bioengineered organoids have garnered momentum for their applications in modeling human development and disease, drug screening, and future vaccine design.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is a kind of polymeric material with unique hydrophilicity and electrical neutrality. PEG coating is a crucial factor to improve the biophysical and chemical properties of nanoparticles and is widely studied. Protein adherence and macrophage removal are effectively relieved due to the existence of PEG on the particles. In our recent review, Effects of Polyethylene Glycol on the Surface of Nanoparticles for Targeted Drug Delivery, we discuss the PEGylation methods of nanoparticles and related techniques that have been used to detect the PEG coverage density and thickness on the surface of the nanoparticles in recent years. Congratulations to the team!

Dr. Zahra Davoudi’s paper, “Gut Organoid as a New Platform to Study Alginate and Chitosan Mediated PLGA Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery“, has been published on Marine Drugs. In this study, the impact of surface charge on the delivery of 5-ASA loaded PLGA nanoparticles into the lumen of organoids was investigated. It was concluded that the positively charged chitosan nanoparticles were more readily transported across the epithelium into the lumen than the negatively charged alginate nanoparticles. Thus, the organoid can be utilized as an appropriate model to mimic the functions of the intestinal epithelium and can be used as a model to evaluate the benefits of nanoparticle-based drug delivery. Congratulations to the team!

It’s so happy to meet with students at the Iowa State Graduation Ceremony. Congratulations to all fellow students of the Class of 2021. Good luck with your future career!

Dr. Wang has been elected as a member of the Publications Committee for Society For Biomaterials. This appointment is a four-year term that begins in May 2021 and ends in April 2025. Also, Dr. Wang will work as the Secretary and Treasurer for the Tissue Engineering Special Interest Group (SIG). Congratulations！

CBE undergraduate students, Georgia Wimmer will join Wang Lab as a summer researcher to work on the Organoids projects. Welcome!

Dr. Wang will give a presentation at the NIDA Genetic Consortium Meetings, March 8th to 10th. The topic is to use “Organoids as New Platform to Study Substance Use Disorders”. The mission is to promote NIDA’s genetic and epigenetic research relevant to substance use disorders and addictive behaviors. You can join me through the https://app.slack.com/client/T0FS2AQ06/C01M5TZ53JS/details/pins

Dr. Wang gave a presentation about tissue engineering and regenerative medicine using organoids at Translational Medicine and Stem Cell Association (TMSCA) at UC Berkeley. The most recent research progress on biomaterials mediated organoids and stem cell reprogramming and organoids and cell-mediated drug delivery has been discussed. Stem cell research at UC Berkeley is organized and coordinated by the Berkeley Stem Cell Center, a cornerstone of the University’s Health Sciences Initiative.