Peter X. Ma
Department of Biologic & Materials Sciences, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering Center, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Regenerative medicine aims to produce replacement tissues and organs by utilizing the highly regenerative potentials of stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. There is a growing recognition of 3D matrix microenvironments in regulating the fate and function of stem cells. A key challenge facing regenerative medicine is to create the microenvironments that can recapitulate those in a developmental or healing program to maintain stemness, to accelerate proliferation, or to direct stem cells to differentiate along a specific therapeutic lineage. Our lab takes a biomimetic approach to design biodegradable polymers to modulate 3D microenvironments on the micro, nano and molecular scales for stem cells to regenerate tissues. Several examples of regenerating orthopaedic, dental/craniofacial, and cardiofascular tissues will be presented to demenstrate the impact of biomimetic polymer microenvironments in regenerative medicine.
Peter X Ma, PhD, Professor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Peter X Ma received his BS and MS degrees from Tsinghua University in Beijing China. He received his PhD from Rutgers University and did his post-doctoral research at MIT and Harvard Medical School. Currently, Dr. Ma is the Richard H Kingery Endowed Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan. As a tenured Full Professor, he has quadruple appointments in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences in the School of Dentistry, the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Macromolecular Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering. Dr. Ma has published 214 full-length articles (with more than 20k citations and an H-index of 71) and 4 books, delivered 240 plenary/keynote/invited lectures and 205 regular scientific conference presentations. He reviews articles for over 80 journals (on 8 Editorial Boards). He is also an inventor of more than 30 issued and pending US patents. Dr. Ma chaired 52 symposiums and conference sessions, served on 33 symposium and conference organization committees. He also reviews grant proposals for NIH, NSF, DOD, and Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as many international funding agencies such as Canada, European Commission, UK, Austrian, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Israel, China, Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
Among many of his recognitions, Dr. Ma received a Whitaker Foundation Biomedical Engineering Young Investigator Award, won a DuPont Young Professor Award, won a Distinguished Scientist (Isaac Schour Memorial) Award from International Association of Dental Research, won a Clemson Award from the Society for Biomaterials, was named one of the Top 100 materials scientists in the world (2000-2010). Dr. Ma was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Fellow of the Materials Research Society, Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science.
