Research Interests
Our research spans the disciplinary boundaries between nanotechnology, biomaterials, and mechanobiology with an emphasis on their applications to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Through the use of multi-scale biofabrication tools in combination with human pluripotent stem cell technologies, we focus on the development and application of bio-inspired materials/devices and functional tissue engineering models for elucidating regenerative biology, drug screening, disease modeling, and cell-based therapies. Using engineered microenvironments in combination with quantitative biology approaches, we are also studying the intricate interactions between mechanical and biochemical signaling in the regulation of cell/tissue function and fate decisions that are essential for tumor progression and metastasis, tissue repair and regeneration following injury, and various developmental events. The ultimate goal of our research is to better understand complex cellular behavior in response to microenvironmental cues in normal, aging, and disease states, to gain new mechanistic insights into the control of cell-tissue structure and function, and to develop multi-scale regenerative technologies for improving human health.
Titles
- Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Education
- PhD, Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2010
- MS, Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, 2000
- BS, Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea, 1998
Recent Highlights
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July 27, 2023For a team of Johns Hopkins scientists, the acceleration of aging in space provides a unique opportunity to better comprehend the condition that remains the leading cause of death in America: heart disease.
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April 28, 2023A new course, designed by Deok-Ho Kim, focuses on microphysiological systems, which are used to study human disease, drug development, and precision medicine.
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March 8, 2023Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers are collaborating with NASA to send human heart “tissue-on-a-chip” specimens into space as early as March. The project is designed to monitor the tissue for changes in heart muscle cells’ mitochondria (their power supply) and ability to contract in low-gravity conditions.