Title Affiliations Abstract "Development of a biomimetic cornea combining additive manufacturing and stem cell technologies." "Translational Neurosciences (TNW)" "The overall goal is to create a bio-cornea that is optically transparent, with appropriate mechanical and geometric properties. Bio-compatability and integration will be determined in in vivo rabbit models of corneal transplantation. This project will focus oninnovation via interdisciplinary collaboration between production engineering, biomaterials, and cell biology in ophthalmology in order to bring the 3D printed bio-cornea to a proof-ofconcept." "Melt electrowriting for tissue regenerative implants: a focus on biomimetics" "Veerle Bloemen" "Surface and Interface Engineered Materials (SIEM)" "Recent advances in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering (TE) have opened the way for novel, more sustainable treatment strategies. Inspired by developmental biology and based on principles of engineering, TE aims to combine cells with biological cues and/or biomaterials in a 3D construct that leads to de novo tissue formation. However, the translation of scientific results into a clinical product is still limited with currently only a few products on the market. More medical device-compatible manufacturing processes and improved biomimicry are two substantial areas that need improvement to bridge the gap between bench and bedside. To create implants which are clinically relevant, the field needs new enabling technologies. In this regard, biofabrication technologies hold great promise to more robustly develop constructs that are closely related to the native tissues. These technologies focus on the automated generation of biologically functional products with a defined structural organisation of living cells or cell aggregates, bioactive molecules, biomaterials or cell-material hybrids. Melt electrowriting (MEW) is one such exciting emerging technology and is the first one that enables accurate 3D printing with features below 10 μm using known processes compatible with medical device manufacture. This project uses MEW to fabricate highly complex micro-scale structures with a controlled design to better withstand the mechanical forces in a load-bearing environment. In addition, these structures will be functionalized to allow drug release in a sustained manner. It is hypothesised that such smart materials can serve as a basis for the development of implants that can more closely mimic the behaviour of the native tissue." "Can functional trade-offs in natural body armour undermine the current biomimetics approach?" "Raoul Van Damme" "Biophysics and Biomedical Physics, Functional Morphology" "Through millions of years of evolution, nature has unfolded an array of armour types in the animal kingdom. The underlying mechanisms of natural body armour have received considerable attention in the field of biomimetics because of their potential role in serving as inspiration for artificial protective materials. Unfortunately, the majority of biomimetic studies often unambiguously assume that nature has selected the most optimal designs. Instead, the response of traits to natural selection is subject to various constrains including functional trade-offs. Hence, the current biomimetics approach might fail to fulfill the requisites of a well-designed biomimetics study and indirectly constrain the development of artificial body armour. The proposed project employs a strong ecological and evolutionary framework to investigate the effect of functional trade-offs on the evolution of body armour. Cordyline lizards are the ideal study system for a comparative and experimental analysis of body armour, because unlike other vertebrates, they display a vast amount of variation in the expression and morphology of osteoderms (i.e. body plates embedded in the skin). The study integrates evolutionary biology and functional morphology with the field of biomechanics while benefiting from state-of-the-art technology such as high-resolution micro-computed tomography scanning, 3D bioprinting and novel simulation software to ultimate put the current approach of biomimetic studies to the test." "Biomimetics and robotics relying on serially sectioned musculoskeletal system in syngnathid fishes" Biology "geen abstract" "Multi-agent biomimetic robot system for modulating the trajectory of fish" "Pieter Simoens" "Department of Information technology" "Fish, vital for ecosystem equilibrium, confront threats like pollution and illegal fishing. Biomimetic robots, mimicking fish behavior can track shoals, detect dangers, and guide them to safety. Our project focuses on developing such systems to safeguard fish, addressing aspects of decentralized control, modeling animal-robot interactions, and symbolic communication. Validation is done in simulation and in aquarium." "Engineering biomimetic mechanically robust patient-specific CaP dental root scaffolds" "Annabel Braem" "Surface and Interface Engineered Materials (SIEM)" "The overall aim of this project is to develop a novel tissue engineering approach for dental root tissue replacement based on immune-modulation through biomaterial surface functionalization. In a first step, CaP scaffolds with a customized geometry and tailored mechanical properties will be fabricated by means of 3D printing. Currently available additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies used to produce customized CaP structures inherently introduce defects leading to inferior mechanical properties (brittleness). This is related to crack formation during the drying process or inconsistences and localized printing defects. Therefore, the 3D printing process of CaP materials will be optimized in order to overcome the current limitations, such as dimensional inaccuracy and manufacturing-induced flaws. In a next step, these CaP scaffolds will be functionalized by electrospinning to mimic the heterogeneous dentoalveolar tissue. CaP scaffolds resemble dentin and bone in their crystalline structure. However, single handed, these scaffolds fail to mimic the heterogeneous dentoalveolar tissue, especially at the tooth root–periodontal membrane–bone interface. Therefore, we aim to develop multilayered hybrid scaffolds consisting of a mechanically strong CaP scaffold (dentin replacement) coated with a fibrous polymer (periodontal membrane). Immune-modulated tissue regeneration will be approached using biomaterials electing M2 macrophage polarization (chitosan) and the encapsulation of chemokines." "specific biomarkers to develop targeted delivery of therapeutic mRNA in various tumors using biomimetic nanomaterials" "Stefaan Soenen" "NanoHealth and Optical Imaging Group" "The main aim of this project lies in the development of a novel range of nanoformulations based on biomimicry in order to obtain a better delivery of therapeutic nanomaterials to solid tumors, enhancing therapeutic efficacy and reducing unwanted side-effects. A highly multidisciplinary research project has been set up to reach this goal, using classical, FDA-approved solid lipid nanoparticles (sLNPs), which will be coated with different cell membranes, from naturally derived and genetically engineered cells in order to find the formulation with maximal tumor targeting efficacy. Furthermore, novel strategies will be developed to try and aid the in vivo follow-up of the NMs as a proof-of-concept for easy screening purposes. Finally, using bioinformatics tools, we will try and define therapeutic targets for different tumor types, in particular targeting so-called tumor stem cells, to better design therapeutic mRNA to treat these hard to treat tumor cells." "Development of biomimetic responsive nanocarriers for inhalable drug delivery in lung cancer" "Anitha ETHIRAJAN" "Materials Physics" "Worldwide, lung cancer remains a major public health problem leading to almost 1.8 million deaths each year. Current treatment options involving combinations of chemotherapy drugs are still widely recommended, despite the many side-effects due to non-specific targeting and high toxicity. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase treatment efficacy by developing innovative strategies involving novel drug delivery vehicles. Moreover, inhaled chemotherapy could be a novel modality for treating lung cancer patients. In this project we aim to develop innovative nanocarriers (NCs) made of biocompatible and biodegradable biopolymers, able to encapsulate chemotherapy drugs and release them in response to stimuli specific to the tumour microenvironment. The NCs are coated with cancer cell membrane, which may enhance the cellular uptake while reducing immune cells’ phagocytosis. The designed biomimetic NCs will be fully characterized at the bio-nano interface and the biocompatibility, targeting efficiency, and drug release will be assessed in relevant lung cell models. A proof-of-concept study will be performed using advanced in vitro models employing human lung organoids and ALI tissue model exposed to aerosolized formulations at the air-liquid interface to mimic administration via inhalation and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of the biomimetic NCs." "A functional artificial cell stabilized by a biomimetic cytoskeleton" "Collins David, Xevi Casadevall i Solvas" "Mechatronics, Biostatistics and Sensors (MeBioS)" "Cell-based products are being used with great impact in a wide diversity of both novel and long-established therapeutic applications. Erythrocytes, for example, are used to save thousands of lives every day worldwide. Yet, in low- and middle-income countries, their scarcity and unsafe control are endemic burdens that cost lives. Conversely, the high price-tag of CAR-T cell products relegate such therapies to last-resort treatments even in developed countries. Therefore, synthetic strategies (i.e. artificial cells) could make such cell products safer and cheaper. In the paradigmatic case of Erythrocytes, the properties of their cytoskeleton are essential to establish and regulate blood flow, which in turns ensures adequate tissue oxygenation. These properties originate from their cortex, a “nanoscopic chassis” composed of multiple proteins that stabilizes and anchors the cellular membrane above it. Attempts to reconstruct a similar cortex within giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) have so far delivered poor results with structures that cannot recover the properties of native Erythrocyte cortices. In this project, we will adapt droplet-based microfluidic strategies for the formation of GUVs to integrate them with a “3D nano-printed” biomimetic cortex. Such structures will be obtained via 2-photon nano-lithographic techniques that have been demonstrated to offer the capacity to pattern nanometric scaffolds with dimensions similar to those of native cellular cortices. We will further characterize the physico-chemical and functional properties of these cortex-stabilized GUVs in order to artificially recover specific properties (such as shape, deformability and gas exchange capacity) of native Erythrocytes." "Generation of purified biomimetic nanoparticles to stimulate therapeutic delivery to tumor cells" "Stefaan Soenen" "NanoHealth and Optical Imaging Group" "To date, nanoparticle delivery to solid tumors in general, and the specific delivery to cancer cells has remained very low, as most nanoparticles are rapidly sequestered from the blood. To overcome this problem, scientists have looked at the concept of biomimetics, where engineered nanomaterials are surrounded by membranes isolated from natural cells in order to trick the immune system and delay nanoparticle clearance. Here, we aim to improve on the current biomimetics technology by using a novel in-house developed purification scheme that generates highly purified populations of nanoparticles coated with biological membranes. To enhance delivery, we will test the use of macrophage membranes to avoid immune cell recognition and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-natural killer (NK) cell membranes to specifically target the cancer cells. By making fusion membranes and further combining these biomimetic nanoparticles with pharmacological agents that stimulate tumor targeting (transcytosis induction and vessel normalization), we will perform an in-depth study of nanoparticle biodistribution. The improved tumor cell targeting will then be demonstrated by the targeted delivery of a therapeutic gene that will drive anti-cancer immune responses. This project will pave the way for enhanced delivery of nanoformulations to solid tumors (primary and metastatic nodules) and in doing so, can drive an entirely new field of targeted drug delivery using nanomaterials."