People

Research Interests

Microvascular tissue engineering; microvascular physiology; hydrogels

Current Research

Dr. Tien and his group focus on the engineering of functional tissues through control of the cellular microenvironment. Of particular interest is the synthesis of microvascular networks that can serve as in vitro models of microcirculatory diseases or as ex vivo scaffolds for the perfusion of macroscopic tissues. Members of the group apply their understanding of fundamental biology to design structured biomaterials that orient, localize, or alter cellular interactions to elicit desired behavior. This work uses techniques adapted from molecular biology, surface chemistry, materials science, and lithography, and develops new technologies in-house as needed.

Selected Recent Publications

Price, G.M., Chu, K.K., Truslow, J.G., Tang-Schomer, M.D., Golden, A.P., Mertz, J. & Tien, J. "Bonding of Macromolecular Hydrogels Using Perturbants" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130: 6664-6665 (2008)

Price, G.M., Chrobak, K.M. & Tien, J. "Effect of Cyclic AMP on Barrier Function of Human Lymphatic Microvascular Tubes" Microvasc. Res. 76: 46-51 (2008)

Golden, A.P. & Tien, J. "Fabrication of Microfluidic Hydrogels Using Molded Gelatin as a Sacrificial Element" Lab Chip. 17: 720-725 (2007)

Nelson, C.M. & Tien, J. "Microstructured Extracellular Matrices in Tissue Engineering and Development" Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 17: 518-523 (2006)

Chrobak, K.M., Potter, D.R. & Tien, J. "Formation of Perfused, Functional Microvascular Tubes in vitro" Microvasc. Res. 71: 185-196 (2006)

Tien, J., Golden AP, Tang MD "Engineering of Blood Vessels" Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, CA Microvascular Research: Biology and Pathology 2: 1087-1093 (2006)

Tang MD, Golden AP, Tien, J. "Fabrication of Collagen Gels that Contain Patterned Microscale Cavities" Adv. Mater. 16: 1345-1348 (2004)

Chen, C. S., Tan, J. L., Tien, J. "Mechanotransduction at Cell-matrix and Cell-cell Contacts" Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng. in press : (2004)

Tang, M. D., Golden, A. P., Tien, J. "Molding of Three-Dimensional Microstructures of Gels" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125: 12988-12989 (2003)

Tan, J. L, Tien, J., Pirone, D. M., Gray, D. S., Bhadriraju, K., Chen, C. S. "Cells Lying on a Bed of Microneedles: An Approach to Isolate Mechanical Force" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 1484-1489 (2003)

Tien, J., Nelson, C. M., Chen, C. S. "Fabrication of Aligned Microstructures with a Single Elastomeric Stamp" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 1758-1762 (2002)