Seminar Speaker: Dr. Aleeza Farrukh, University of California, Irvine

SpeakerDr. Aleeza Farrukh, University of California, Irvine

Title “From Biomaterials to Bioelectronic Devices: Precise Control Over Cell Fate”

Hybrid polymers and biopolymers that reconfigure their material properties on demand have shown incredible promise for drug delivery, biosensing, diagnostics, soft robotics, flexible electronics, and smart textiles. However, several critical challenges remain unresolved for these materials, including molecular-level control over bulk properties, robust high throughput synthesis pathways, reliable high yield functionalization, and development of unambiguous structure-function relationships. To address these challenges, we have synthesized selectively-actuatable polymeric materials with precisely tailored mechanical properties and spatially defined functionalization that can trigger specific biological signaling pathways via optical or electrical stimuli. For example, we have developed a powerful bioelectronic device platform that allows the regulation of cellular differentiation with electrical stimuli. Moreover, we have synthesized polymeric biomaterials that direct cell migration via spatiotemporally defined light-induced changes in their material properties. By establishing new ways of controlling cellular communication, our molecularly engineered polymeric materials hold promise for tissue engineering, therapeutics, diagnostics, and regenerative technologies.

Dr. Aleeza Farrukh is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California (Irvine, USA). She received her Ph.D. (summa cum laude) in Polymer Chemistry from Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Mainz, Germany). She graduated with M.Sc. in Chemistry and M.Phil. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Punjab (Lahore, Pakistan). In her Ph.D., she worked on light-guided control over the direction of the axons using photoresponsive biomaterial platforms. For this research work, she was awarded the Outstanding Thesis Prize by the Leibniz Research Association, Germany, in the category of Natural Sciences and Engineering. Later, she joined as a postdoctoral researcher at Leibniz Institute for New Materials (Saarbrücken, Germany) and worked on 4D hydrogels to modulate angiogenesis. During her stay at Leibniz Institute, she got selected to represent Leibniz Association in the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting. Prior to her Ph.D., she was a research assistant at LUMS (Lahore, Pakistan) and worked on fabricating multimodal interfaces functionalized with polymer brushes. Her current research focuses on engineering living bioelectronics for the on-demand delivery of therapeutics packaged within designed extracellular vesicles.