REVOLUTIONIZING LIVES THROUGH BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Le “Jasper” Yu and Nicolás Muzzio are working on research to create regenerative medicine therapies.
By Krithika Selvarajoo
Regenerative medicine, a cutting-edge field within biomedical engineering, aims to repair or replace damaged tissues, cells and organs using engineering, biology and cell-based approaches. Despite working in different laboratories, UMKC researchers Le “Jasper” Yu and Nicolás Muzzio share a common goal to pioneer advancements in regenerative medicine therapies to revolutionize healthcare and increase quality of life for patients.
Nicolás Muzzio, Ph.D., and Despina Kassiou work with an analytical balance while Le "Jasper" Yu, Ph.D., and Wantong Wen work under a fume hood in the back. PHOTO / BRANDON PARIGO
BIOMATERIALS AND TISSUE ENGINEERING LABORATORY
Led by Yu, the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory focuses on developing novel transformative biomaterials to alleviate patients’ pain and enhance clinical outcomes for bone, cartilage and nerve regeneration. Yu’s lab is also working on using engineering tools to enhance drug delivery efficacy and clinic treatment effectiveness for drug delivery.
Bone and Cartilage Regeneration
An estimated 80% of people in the United States over age 65 have signs of osteoarthritis, a musculoskeletal condition described as a loss of cartilage within at least one joint of the body.
As osteoarthritis progresses, the loss of cartilage leads to bones rubbing against each other, resulting in symptoms such as joint pain and tenderness. These symptoms are osteochondral, meaning that there is damage to the cartilage and bone in a joint.
Osteochondral repair is possible, but often challenging, due to the complex structure and poor natural regenerative capability of natural osteochondral tissue, which contains collagen.
Yu’s lab aims to regulate bone and cartilage regeneration and make osteochondral repair easier by modifying the composition and structure of biodegradable scaffolds, which are three-dimensional structures that provide a temporary framework for cells to grow while the body naturally replaces the scaffold material with new tissue. This temporary framework improves the efficiency of osteochondral repair, leading to quicker pain relief for patients with osteoarthritis.
Le "Jasper" Yu, Ph.D. and Wantong Wen use stirring hot plates to synthesize biodegradable polymers. PHOTO / BRANDON PARIGO
Nerve Regeneration
Each year, approximately 20 million to 30 million people in the United States experience peripheral nerve injury, a type of nerve damage that causes weakness, numbness and pain.
Nerves have the ability to repair and regenerate themselves after damage. However, when nerve recovery fails, intervention is required to ensure successful recovery. This intervention comes in the form of nerve guide conduits, which help nerves regenerate.
Yu’s lab is working on designing novel, biodegradable nerve guide conduits to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration. These nerve guide conduits will improve restoration of motor function, sensory recovery and pain relief for patients.
Drug Delivery
Direct administration of drugs often causes complications, such as short-lived efficacy and heavy side effects. However, encapsulating drugs into micro- and nano-sized carriers reduces the chances of these complications.
By regulating the size, shape, stiffness and surface functionalization of drug delivery carriers in the bloodstream, Yu’s lab hopes to enhance the drug delivery efficiency of drug delivery carriers in the bloodstream.
Despina Kassiou uses a LED lamp and photomask to make hydrogels by photopolymerization. PHOTO / BRANDON PARIGO
SOFT BIOMEDICAL INTERFACES LAB
The nervous system is still full of mysteries for researchers, but Nicolás Muzzio’s lab is working to change that.
Muzzio hopes to shed light on brain and neuron mechanisms by developing new therapies for nervous tissue injuries and disorders as part of neural engineering and regenerative medicine.
Similar to Yu’s Lab, Muzzio’s lab also focuses on three specific areas — biomaterials for neurostimulation and neuroengineering, drug delivery and cell-extracellular matrix interactions.
Biomaterials for Neurostimulation and Neuroengineering
After injury due to trauma or disease, the nervous system has limited capacity for regeneration and functional recovery. Furthermore, cell-to-cell and cell-to-extracellular matrix interactions in the nervous system are still not well known due to their complexity.
Muzzio’s lab is developing different kinds of micro and nanomaterials to stimulate neurons and use these materials for nerve tissue regeneration. These materials will be able to deliver electrical and mechanical cues to neurons, enhancing their regenerative ability and helping patients regain motor and sensory skills.
Drug Delivery
Blood-brain barrier permeability has often been used to enhance drug delivery to the central nervous system. However, dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier can lead to several neurological disorders such as stroke, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis and can also lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, inflammation and destabilization of the blood-brain barrier’s extracellular matrix can lead to barrier leakage and toxins or pathogens reaching the central nervous system.
Muzzio’s lab aims to reduce the risk of blood-brain barrier dysfunction by designing and synthesizing new drug delivery systems. These systems would maximize the drug’s efficiency by transporting the drug to a specific location and releasing it passively, or upon a certain stimulus. This can minimize drug toxicity and reduce side effects while improving the control over drug clearance and increasing the accumulation of the drug at the target site.
“By studying the blood-brain barrier tissue biomechanics and using smart delivery systems to carry drugs, we are able to potentially improve the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases,” Muzzio said.
"By studying the blood-brain barrier tissue biomechanics and using smart delivery systems to carry drugs, we are able to potentially improve the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases."
— Nicolás Muzzio, Ph.D.
Cell-Extracellular Matrix Interactions
The extracellular matrix is a key mediator in most events that happen within a cell, and alterations in its mechanical, structural and biochemical properties play a key role in the mechanism of most diseases. For example, changes in the brain tissue’s mechanical properties influence many physiological and pathological processes and studying aging brain biomechanics is crucial to understanding body aging mechanisms.
Muzzio’s lab currently uses biomaterial platforms with biochemical, mechanical and structural cues to model cellular microenvironments, study nervous tissue mechanisms and identify new therapeutic approaches. This could lead to new breakthroughs in the regenerative medicine field.
Both Le and Muzzio currently have labs in the $32 million, state-of-the-art Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise and Research Center, which is equipped with various cutting-edge technologies. The new $145 million Healthcare Delivery and Innovation Building at the UMKC Health Sciences Campus, projected to open in 2026, will offer more advanced labs and equipment to further support biomedical engineering discoveries and breakthroughs.
// LE "JASPER" YU, PH.D.
Assistant professor
RESEARCH INTERESTS Biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery, biomineralization
JOINED UMKC 2024
// NICOLÁS EDUARDO MUZZIO, PH.D.
Assistant professor
RESEARCH INTERESTS Biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery, biomineralization
JOINED UMKC 2024