Faculty Directory

Academic preparation

Postdoc, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital

Ph.D., University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

B.S. & M.S., Xi'an Jiaotong University

Selected honors

Member, European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2023)

Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2018)

Fellow, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2017)

Lumley Research Award, College of Engineering, Ohio State University (2016)

Research Scholar, American Cancer Society (2011)

My laboratory is dedicated to the research and education on developing multiscale (quantum, nano, micro, and macro) biomaterials and devices reinforced by artificial intelligence technology to (1) engineer, bank, and deliver small molecules, genes, peptides/proteins, cells, tissues, and organs; and (2) create 3D biomimetic systems in vitro with bioinspired spatiotemporal complexity. The ultimate goal is to deliver innovative solutions for improving the safety and efficacy of early detection and treatment of diseases including but not limited to cancer, infertility, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological disorders.

BIOE 689T/489W: Advanced Biomaterials

BIOE 453: Biomaterials

For a complete list of publications, please visit Google Scholar

Representative publications (in last 10 years):

1. Shamul, J.G., Wang, Z., Gong, H., Ou, W., White, A.M., Garcia, D.P.M., Gu, S., Clyne, A.M., Quinones-Hinojosa, A., and He, X. Meta-analysis of the make-up and properties of in vitro models of the healthy and diseased blood-brain barrier. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2024 Read
2. Ou, W., Stewart, S., White, A., Kwizera, E., Xu, J., Fang, Y., Shamul, J., Xie, C., Nurudeen, S., Tirada, N., Lu, X., Tkaczuk, K., and He, X. In-situ cryo-immune engineering of tumor microenvironment with cold-responsive nanotechnology for cancer immunotherapy. Nature Communications 2023; 14: 392 Read
3. Stewart, S., Ou, W., Aranda-Espinoza, H., Rahaman, S.O., and He, X. Micromechanical characterizations and viscoelastic modeling reveal elastic and viscoelastic heterogeneities in ovarian tissue and the significant viscoelastic contribution to the apparent elastic modulus determined by AFM indentation. Acta Biomaterialia 2023; 168: 286-297 Read
4. Kwizera, E.A., Ou, W., Lee, S., Stewart, S., Shamul, J.G., Xu, J., Tait, N., Tkaczuk, K., and He, X. Greatly enhanced CTC culture enabled by capturing CTC heterogeneity using a PEGylated PDMS-titanium-gold electromicrofluidic device with glutathione-controlled gentle cell release. ACS Nano 2022; 16: 11374–11391 Read
5. Huang, H.*, He, X.*, and Yarmush, M.L.* Advanced technologies for the preservation of mammalian biospecimens. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2021; 5: 793-804 (*co-corresponding authors) Read
6. Xu, J., Shamul, J.G., Staten, N.A., White, A.M., Jiang, B., and He, X. Bioinspired 3D culture in nanoliter hyaluronic acid-rich core-shell hydrogel microcapsules isolates highly pluripotent human iPSCs. Small 2021; 17: 2102219 Read
7. Jiang, B., Li, W., Stewart, S., Ou, W., Liu, B., Comizzoli, P., and He, X. Sand-mediated ice seeding enables serum-free low-cryoprotectant cryopreservation of human induced pluripotent stem cells. Bioactive Materials 2021; 6: 4377-4388 Read
8. White, A.M., Zhang, Y., Shamul, J.G., Xu, J., Kwizera, E.A., Jiang, B., and He, X. Deep learning-enabled label-free on-chip detection and selective extraction of cell aggregate-laden hydrogel microcapsules. Small 2021; 17: 2100491 Read
9. Xu, J., Liu, Y., Li, Y., Wang, H., Stewart, S., Van der Jeught, K., Agarwal, P., Zhang, Y., Liu, S., Zhao, G., Wan, J., Lu, X., and He, X. Precise targeting of POLR2A as a therapeutic strategy for human triple negative breast cancer. Nature Nanotechnology 2019; 14: 388-397 Read
10. Agarwal, P., Wang, H., Sun, M., Xu, J., Zhao, S., Liu, Z., Gooch, K.J., Zhao, Y., Lu, X., and He, X. Microfluidics-enabled bottom-up engineering of 3D microvascularized human tumor for drug discovery. ACS Nano 2017; 11: 6691-6702 Read
11. Zhao, S., Xu, Z., Wang, H., Reese, B., Gushchina, L., Jiang, M., Agarwal, P., Xu, J., Zhang, M., Shen, Y., Liu, Z., Weisleder, N., and He, X. Bioengineering of injectable encapsulated aggregates of pluripotent stem cells for therapy of myocardial infarction. Nature Communications 2016; 7: 13306 Read
12. Zhao, S., Zhang, L., Han, J., Chu, J., Wang, H., Chen, X., Wang, Y., Tun, N., Lu, L., Bai, X.-F., Martha, Y., Devine, S., He, X.*, and Yu, J.* Conformal nanoencapsulation of allogeneic T cells mitigates graft-versus-host disease and retains graft-versus-leukemia activity. ACS Nano 2016; 10: 6189-6200 (*co-corresponding authors) Read
13. Huang, H., Choi, J.K., Rao, W., Zhao, S., Agarwal, P., Zhao, G., and He, X. Alginate hydrogel microencapsulation inhibits devitrification and enables large-volume low-CPA cell vitrification. Advanced Functional Materials 2015; 25: 6839-6850 Read
14. Rao, W., Wang, H., Han, J., Zhao, S., Dumbleton, J., Agarwal, P., Zhang, W., Zhao, G., Yu, J., Zynger, D.L., Lu, X., and He, X. Chitosan-decorated doxorubicin-encapsulated nanoparticle targets and eliminates tumor reinitiating cancer stem-like cells. ACS Nano 2015; 9: 5725-5740 Read
15. Choi, J.K., Agarwal, P., Huang, H., Zhao, S., and He, X. The crucial role of mechanical heterogeneity in regulating follicle development and ovulation with engineered ovarian microtissue. Biomaterials 2014; 35: 5122-5128 Read