Biomaterials research in Wang Lab focused on developing novel smart materials for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Dr. Wang used biodegradable PLGA nanoparticles to create a novel bone filler as an alternative to the invasive surgery often required to repair skeletal defects [1]. Furthermore, this bone filler can be used as a drug delivery carrier for a locally controlled release system to accelerate bone healing [2]. Dr. Wang was the first to elucidate the mechanisms of the biomaterial and found that this colloid gel self-assembled through electrostatic forces, which resulted in a stable 3-D network that may be extruded or molded to the desired shape and can fill irregular tissue defects [3, 4]. Dr. Wang discovered that the injectability of this PLGA colloidal gel was determined by the solid concentration of the gel, the size, and the surface charge of nanoparticles [1]. Furthermore, Dr. Wang found the drug released from the gels following zero-order kinetics occurred for more than two months [2]. This is a substantial advancement in nanoparticle drug release systems research because most systems previously studied only released drugs for a few weeks. Dr. Wang’s biodegradable colloidal gels are providing a viable approach for targeted drug delivery and tissue repair. Immediately after publishing the original work in Advanced Materials and Biomaterials, several following research have begun to study this colloidal system and published papers in peer-reviewed journals [5, 6]. In addition, Dr. Wang and collaborators explored new silk-based materials for regenerative medicine [7-10]. Peer has widely cited two reviews of hydrogel biomaterials for drug delivery and tissue engineering [11-13]. To address the emerging growth in soft materials for synthetic biology, he and colleagues reviewed the soft materials involved in biological and artificial membranes. The biological membranes that have been discussed are mainly those involved in the structure and function of cells and organelles [14]. Recently, Dr. Wang has brought together scientists and engineers who work in different fields of chemistry, physics, biology, materials science, pharmaceutics, medicine, and clinics to write two books “Smart Materials for Tissue Engineering: Fundamental Principles” and “Smart Materials for Tissue Engineering: Applications” [15, 16]. These two books aim to fill this gap and introduce new tissue engineering smart materials to a broad audience, from scientific communities, educational organizations to industrial manufacturers.

SEM and Laser Scanning Confocal Micrographs observation of colloidal gels revealed similar porous microstructure and nanostructure [Ref. 1].

1) Wang Q, Wang L, Detamore MS, Berkland C. Biodegradable colloidal gels as moldable tissue engineering scaffolds. Advanced Materials. 2007; 20(2):236-239.

2) Wang Q, Wang J, Lu Q, Detamore MS, Berkland C. Injectable PLGA based colloidal gels for zero-order dexamethasone release in cranial defects. Biomaterials. 2010; 31(18):4980-6. PMID:20303585

3) Wang Q, Jamal S, Detamore MS, Berkland C. PLGA-chitosan/PLGA-alginate nanoparticle blends as biodegradable colloidal gels for seeding human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. Part A. 2011; 96(3):520-7. PMID: 21254383

4) Wang Q, Gu Z, Jamal S, Detamore MS, Berkland C. Hybrid hydroxyapatite nanoparticle colloidal gels are injectable fillers for bone tissue engineering. Tissue engineering. Part A. 2013; 19(23-24):2586-93. PMID:23815274)

5) Gu Z, Aimetti AA, Wang Q, Dang TT, Zhang Y, Veiseh O, Cheng H, Langer RS, Anderson DG. Injectable nano-network for glucose-mediated insulin delivery. ACS Nano. 2013; 7(5):4194-201. PMID: 23638642

6) Büyüktimkin B, Wang Q, Kiptoo P, Stewart JM, Berkland C, Siahaan TJ. Vaccine-like controlled-release delivery of an immunomodulating peptide to treat experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Molecular pharmaceutics. 2012; 9(4):979-85. PMID: 22375937

7) Lamboni L, Gauthier M, Yang G, Wang Q. Silk sericin: A versatile material for tissue engineering and drug delivery. Biotechnol Adv. 2015; 33(8):1855-67. PMID: 26523781.

8) Cheng G, Davoudi Z, Xing X, Yu X, Cheng X, Li Z, Deng H, Wang Q. Advanced Silk Fibroin Biomaterials for Cartilage Regeneration. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2018 13; 4(8):2704-2715. PMID: 33434996.

9) Chen J, Zhan Y, Wang Y, Han D, Tao B, Luo Z, Ma S, Wang Q, Li X, Fan L, Li C, Deng H, Cao F. Chitosan/silk fibroin modified nanofibrous patches with mesenchymal stem cells prevent heart remodeling post-myocardial infarction in rats. Acta Biomater. 2018; 80:154-168. PMID: 30218777.

10) Cheng Y, Cheng G, Xie C, Yin C, Dong X, Li Z, Zhou X, Wang Q, Deng H, Li Z. Biomimetic Silk Fibroin Hydrogels Strengthened by Silica Nanoparticles Distributed Nanofibers Facilitate Bone Repair. Adv Healthc Mater. 2021; 10(9): e2001646. PMID: 33694330.

11) Shi Z, Gao X, Ullah MW, Li S, Wang Q, Yang G. Electroconductive natural polymer-based hydrogels. Biomaterials. 2016; 111:40-54. PMID: 27721086.

12) Song F, Li X, Wang Q, Liao L, Zhang C. Nanocomposite Hydrogels and Their Applications in Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering. J Biomed Nanotechnol. 2015; 11(1):40-52. PMID: 26301299.

13) He Q, Tong T, Yu C, Wang Q. Advances in Algin and Alginate-Hybrid Materials for Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering. Marine Drugs. 2023; 21(1):14-28.

14) Tang S, Davoudi Z, Wang G, Xu Z, Rehman T, Prominski A, Tian B, Bratlie KM, Peng H, Wang Q. Soft materials as biological and artificial membranes. Chem Soc Rev. 2021; 50(22):12679-12701. PubMed PMID: 34636824.

15) Wang Q. Wang Q, editor. Smart Materials for Tissue Engineering: Fundamental Principles 1 ed. Cambridge CB4 0WF, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry; 2016. 658p.

16) Wang Q. Wang Q, editor. Smart Materials for Tissue Engineering: Applications 1 ed. Cambridge CB4 0WF, UK: Royal Society of Chemistry; 2017. 723p.