Assistant Professor of Biology
Current Research
When the body repairs a wound, the outcome is not predetermined. The same injury response can restore healthy tissue, produce a fibrotic scar, or stall into a chronic wound that fails to heal. The Eyckmans Lab studies the early biological decisions that push tissue repair down one path rather than another.
Our work centers on the partnership between cells and the extracellular matrix, the molecular scaffold that surrounds them. During repair, cells build, pull on, and remodel this matrix, while the matrix feeds back to shape how cells move, organize, and rebuild tissue. We study this cell–matrix unit as a dynamic system that helps determine whether healing succeeds or fails.
We ask how cells build the first matrix after injury, what makes that matrix regenerative or fibrotic, and why aging disrupts this process. Using wound-on-chip systems, engineered extracellular matrices, animal models, synthetic biology, and quantitative imaging, we examine how matrix composition, architecture, and mechanics regulate wound closure, blood vessel formation, re-epithelialization, and fibrosis.
Our long-term goal is to uncover the design rules of regenerative healing. By understanding how cells and matrix cooperate to build functional tissue, we aim to develop new strategies that redirect failed repair toward regeneration.
Selected Publications
- Vasan A., Kim S., Davis E., Roh D.S., Eyckmans J. Advances in designer materials for chronic wound healing. Adv Wound Care 14(10), 552-568 (2025).
- Li L.Q., Griebel M., Uroz M., Bubli S.Y., Gagnon K.A., Trappmann B., Baker B.M., Eyckmans J., Chen C.S. A protein‑adsorbent hydrogel with tunable stiffness demonstrates matrix‑dependent stiffness responses. Adv Funct Mater 2309567 (2024).
- Das S.L., Sutherland B., Lejeune E., Chen C.S., Eyckmans J. Mechanical response of cardiac microtissues to acute localized injury. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 323(4), H738–H748 (2022).
- Das S.L., Bose P., Lejeune E., Reich D., Chen C.S., Eyckmans J. Extracellular matrix alignment directs provisional matrix assembly and 3D fibrous tissue closure. Tissue Eng A 27(23-24), 1447-1457 (2021)
- Tefft J.B., Chen C.S., Eyckmans J., Reconstituting the dynamics of endothelial cells and fibroblasts in wound closure. APL Bioeng 5(1), 016102 (2021).
- Polacheck W.J., Kutys M.L., Yang J., Eyckmans J., Hinson J.T. , Seidman J.G., Seidman C.E., Chen C.S. A non-canonical Notch complex regulates adherens junctions and vascular barrier function. Nature 552(7684), 258–262 (2017).
- Sakar M.*, Eyckmans J.*, Pieters R., Eberli D., Nelson B.J., and Chen C.S. Cellular forces and matrix assembly coordinate fibrous tissue repair. Nat Commun 7, 11036 (2016).