CMTM 2025 Guest Speaker Series: Jennifer Young, MBI

Monday July 14, 2025 at 11:00 a.m.
Rajen Kilachand Center for Life Sciences & Engineering
610 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA 02215, Room 101

Please join us for our guest speaker series featuring Dr. Jennifer L. Young from the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore, presenting “Biomaterial design for extracellular matrix mechanobiology.”

The seminar will be held on the first floor of the Rajen Kilachand Center for Life Sciences & Engineering (610 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA 02215, Room 101), and will be followed by an informal lunch.

Please RSVP today, as space is limited!

Jennifer L. Young
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering Department
Principal Investigator, Mechanobiology Institute
National University of Singapore

Biomaterial design for extracellular matrix mechanobiology

ABSTRACT

Extracellular cues stemming from the matrix dictate a multitude of cellular functions, from motility to stem cell differentiation. Yet, the extracellular environment is inherently complex and thus hinders our understanding of specific matrix-based contributions to cellular behavior. Our work focuses specifically on the context of age-related matrix remodeling and engineering materials capable of recapitulating matrix properties in vitro at both the micro and nano length scales. This talk will highlight some of our material approaches to control cell-matrix interactions in the context of aging and mechanobiology. Our strategies ultimately aim to interrogate the cell-matrix interface using highly defined biomaterial systems that can inform future matrix-based treatment strategies.

BIO

Dr. Young was trained as a biomedical engineer at the University of California, San Diego (La Jolla, CA, USA). During her Ph.D. with Prof. Adam Engler, she studied the role of mechanics in cardiac development and created a hydrogel system capable of mimicking dynamic tissue properties in vitro. Inspired by the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) in dictating cell behavior and fate, she joined the Cellular Biophysics group of Prof. Joachim Spatz at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research (Heidelberg, Germany) to study how nanoscale ECM cues regulate cancer cell function. She established the Soft Nano-Biomaterials Lab in 2021 at the Mechanobiology Institute and Biomedical Engineering Department, National University of Singapore where her work focuses on identifying and mimicking nano-to-microscale matrix properties and unraveling their contributions to cellular behavior.