Tissue repair requires a carefully orchestrated series of events in which
numerous cell populations, proteins, and matrix molecules participate under precise spatiotemporal control. Disruptions in these signaling events can cause aberrant healing, leading to impaired function. Biomaterials developed to deliver cells and proteins to tissue often fail to recapitulate the complex, endogenous healing response to injury, and lack the ability to control the bioactivity and local presentation of therapeutics in the injury site. I aim to engineer affinity interactions between therapeutic proteins and biomaterials to create delivery vehicles that can exert precise control over protein bioactivity and delivery. This seminar will demonstrate how novel approaches in protein engineering, computational bio-transport modeling, and directed evolution can be used to overcome the limitations of typical biomaterial delivery vehicles and advance clinically relevant treatment strategies for both musculoskeletal and central nervous system injuries.

Marian Hettiaratchi, Ph.D., is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Shoichet Lab at the University of Toronto.