BME Distinguished Seminar Series Kickoff with David Mooney

David Mooney is the Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a Core Faculty Member of the Wyss Institute. His laboratory designs biomaterials to promote regeneration and immunotherapy. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine,and the National Academy of Inventors. His inventions have been licensed by over 20 companies, leading to commercialized products. He has founded companies, and is active on industrial scientific advisory boards.

Matrix Viscoelasticity: Control of Cell Fate to Medical Adhesives
The stiffness of the extracellular matrix is widely appreciated as a key variable in
the response of adherent cells, but tissues are viscoelastic, with time-dependent mechanical behavior. We have demonstrated that the rate of matrix stress relaxation has dramatic effects on stem cell fate, and recently found it impacts multiple cell types in the tumor microenvironment, including cancer cells, monocytes, and T cells. Inspired by the importance of viscoelasticity to native extracellular matrix, new medical adhesives and medical devices are being
synthesized from energy dissipative hydrogel networks.