Yadong Wang is the William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering with adjunct positions in Chemical Engineering and Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at Stanford University in 1999, and performed his postdoctoral studies in biomaterials at MIT. He joined the Bioengineering Department at University of Pittsburgh in 2008 after serving as an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology for 5 years. His research focuses on creating biomaterials that present controlled chemical, physical, and mechanical signals to cells, tissues and organs. The ultimate goal is to control how the human body interacts with these materials. He is especially interested in applications of biomaterials in the cardiovascular, nervous and musculoskeletal systems. His team enjoys collaborating with other scientists and clinicians who share the same passion in translational research. Current projects include vascular grafts, controlled release of proteins and microfabrication of biomaterials.

Research Interests: Drug Delivery

Project: Biologically-derived nano cells for tissue engineering

Research Interests:
1. Fibrous, acellular approach to vascular network scaffolds
2. Microfabrication and rapid-prototyping

Project: Despite advances in tissue engineering, adequate vascularization in engineered constructs and tissue scaffolds remain a great scientific challenge. The clinical need is especially prominent in the field of reconstructive surgery and treatment of wounds with exposed critical structures where lack of proper vascularization in replacement grafts can lead to failure of growth, function, and viability of the tissue. Therefore, the objective of my research is to construct scaffolds embedded with fibrous, acellular microvascular network with controlled permeability that can support luminal flow and provide nutrient transport. Our approach combines rapid-prototyping of sacrificial templates and electrospinning of poly(glycerol sebacate).

Research Interests: Blood vessel tissue engineering

Project: The objective of this project is to engineer functional small-diameter arteries by culturing vascular cells on novel elastomeric tubular scaffolds in pulsatile flow bioreactor. Porous tubular scaffolds will be fabricated from poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) by using salt fusion method and optimized their macro-/micro-structures. Primary baboon vascular ECs, SMCs, and fibroblasts will be seeded into the scaffolds subsequently and co-cultured in pulsatile flow bioreactor for 3 weeks. The properties of tissue-engineered constructs will be examined by histological, biochemical, and mechanical analyses.

Research Interests: Development of polymeric materials for the soft tissue engineering

Project: Coming soon

Research Interests:
Growth Factor Delivery
Regenerative Extracellular Matrix

Research Interests:
Vascular graft
regenerative medicine
tissue engineering
biomaterials fabrication/modification

Research Interests:
Biomaterials fabrication and modification
tissue engineering
regenerative medicine

Research Interests: Fast-degrading, cell-free, synthetic grafts for cardiovascular tissue regeneration

Project: Our group has successfully demonstrated that in small animals, a cell-free synthetic arterial graft can regenerate in vivo to form living, artery-like structures. I am working with Rob Allen to optimize the graft design and fabrication process for safety, efficacy, and translation readiness as we conduct large animal validation. I am additionally exploring adapting our platform scaffold technology to regenerate other structures in the cardiovascular system.

Research Interests:
Microsurgery
Hind limb transplantation
Graft implantation

Project: A plastic surgeon in China, I came to the University of Pittsburgh as a visiting scholar. My main job is to do animal experiments. One is hind limb transplantation, the other is graft implantation.