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3D-printed Air?
Huck Institutes News | February 2025
February 2025. Our lead story this month features the work of Ibrahim Ozbolat, Huck Chair in 3D Bioprinting and Regenerative Medicine and Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Through cross-disciplinary collaborations with researchers from fields like mathematics, nanotechnology, and surgical medicine, Ozbolat has consistently pushed the boundaries of what is possible in the field of bioprinting for medical applications. Read on below to learn more about one of his most ambitious projects to date—addressing the formidable but essential challenge of tissue vascularization by the 3D printing of air.
★ Feature Story
Opening Up Possibilities
Credit: Kate Myers, Penn State College of Engineering
As the Huck Chair in 3D Bioprinting and Regenerative Medicine and Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State, Ibrahim Ozbolat aims to harness the power of 3D bioprinting to advance personalized medicine and drug discovery, and to ultimately help create life-saving tissues and organs. His work, which bridges fields as diverse as engineering, surgical medicine, mathematics, immunology and nanotechnology, has the potential to transform the future of healthcare.
Ozbolat’s latest project, currently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is focused on solving one of the most significant challenges in 3D bioprinting: vascularization.
“Two of the biggest challenges in bioprinting for regenerative medicine are scalability and vascularization, and they are related. The current limit when bioprinting living cells is one centimeter, in terms of thickness. To scale up from there requires that the tissue be vascularized, or else the cells die. So the creation of voids or channels within the living material is absolutely essential to further advance this field.”
The primary technique currently used for vascularization involves the use of sacrificial inks, which are printed alongside living cells and later removed to create empty channels. However, this approach presents several limitations, including the need for extensive post-processing, difficulties in removing inks from delicate structures like narrow blood vessels, and potential biological interference from ink residues.
Ozbolat’s new approach promises to overcome these limitations by using air as a new “ink.” His innovative 3D Air Printing (3DAirP) technology leverages the compressibility of air within yield-stress gels to create open, stable channels in a single step. These channels, which mimic the function of blood vessels, can be printed up to ten times faster than traditional methods, offering a much-needed solution to the vascularization bottleneck in tissue engineering.
Slice of Life
The parasite that causes malaria requires precise control of gene expression to progress through the various stages of its complex life cycle. A new study, by a multinational team of researchers, including Penn State scientists, has gained critical insights into these regulatory control mechanisms in Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the malaria parasites.
“To survive, replicate and transition between their mosquito and human hosts, the parasites undergo developmental transitions controlled by changes in their gene expression. Understanding the molecular processes that regulate these gene expression changes during the parasite’s complex life cycle is therefore crucial to specifically combatting the pathogen at different stages of its development.”
Findings from the study provide new opportunities for the development of therapeutic approaches against a disease that affects millions of people worldwide every year, according to the research team. A paper describing the research was published Feb. 19 in the journal Nature.
A research team at Penn State has developed generative models much like ChatGPT to create accurate birdsongs, which could improve understanding of the structure of birdsong and its underlying neurobiology and lend insight in the neural mechanisms of human language.
“Although much simpler, the sequences of a bird’s song syllables are organized in a similar way to human language, so birds provide a good model to explore the neurobiology of language.”
A paper describing Jin’s research was recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Accolades & Awards
Robert Sainburg, professor of kinesiology and neurology and Dorothy F. and J. Lloyd Huck Distinguished Chair in Kinesiology and Neurology, was recently named a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology.
"This recognition is a meaningful acknowledgment of my work on the neural control of movement and neurorehabilitation. However, more significantly, it reflects the growing acceptance of this line of research within the broader field of kinesiology. I see this as not only a personal achievement but also as a significant step toward further integrating neuroscience and rehabilitation into kinesiology, reinforcing their essential roles within the discipline.”
Sainburg’s research focuses on understanding basic neural mechanisms that underlie control, coordination, adaptation and learning of voluntary movements in humans and, with that focus, translating this information to clinical rehabilitation. Most importantly, this work has led to a mechanistic understanding of non-paretic arm motor deficits in stroke patients.
Zoubeida Ounaies, professor of mechanical engineering and associate director of Penn State Materials Research Institute, is among 10 faculty members to be named distinguished professors for 2025 by the University’s Office of Faculty Affairs. Ounaies is a prolific researcher whose work focuses on the development of sustainable polymer-based materials with unique mechanical, electrical, magnetic and coupled properties. In recent years, she has transitioned her work toward the next revolution in smart materials — living engineered materials — and she currently directs the Convergence Center for Living Multifunctional Material Systems
Core Topics
The Huck's Microscopy Core Facility offers optical, electron, and histology solutions for researchers, as well as a range of training and project support services. A new set of videos is now available on the facility’s website to explain specific services and instrumentation.
Penn State’s College of Medicine is excited to announce the opening of a new G-Protein Coupled Receptor Assay Service Center, established to accelerate scientific discovery in GPCR physiology and pharmacology.
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large and diverse family of membrane proteins that play a crucial role in cellular signaling. With over 800 distinct GPCRs identified in humans, they are involved in the regulation of key physiological processes such as neurotransmission, immune response, and hormone signaling.
Next-Gen Science
Applying for postdoctoral fellowships offers grantsmanship experience and funding opportunities for postdocs and late-stage doctoral trainees, but the process can feel daunting and different from traditional research grants!
The first session of this three-part workshop series includes an overview of fellowships, federal and private funding opportunities, and tips from Dr. Emily Van Syoc, a successful F32 awardee in the Bordenstein Lab, and Dr. Karen Kemirembe, Assistant Director of Foundation Relations.
The event will take place from 2:00-4:00 PM on Thursday, March 20 in W257 Millennium Science Complex. It will also be available on Zoom.
Huck Catalysis
Are you preparing to submit a grant proposal? In today’s competitive funding landscape, mastering budget planning is essential for success.
Join us for an engaging webinar where we’ll dive into the key strategies for designing effective grant proposal budgets that align with organizational goals and funder expectations.
What you’ll gain:
| Who should attend?
Agenda highlights:
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This exciting webinar will take place from 12:00-1:00 PM on March 5, 2025. Learn more here!
New & Improved
Explore The Pulse like never before! Our new searchable archive lets you find stories from more than 50 past issues. Whether you’re looking for a specific article or just catching up on previous editions, our archive makes it easier than ever to stay up-to-date.
The Huck Catalysis (Huck C) program coordinates university-wide interdisciplinary Life Sciences research development and collaboration activities with an emphasis on scholarship that crosses multiple academic units. Working with other units, Huck C provides support and programming to facilitate research partnerships, support strategic planning, identify funding opportunities, form interdisciplinary collaborations, and submit these proposals through SIRO.
The following are exceptionally innovative, recurring complex interdisciplinary research and education projects that require large-scale, long-term planning.
The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) encourages submission of proposals focusing on Leveraging Innovations From Evolution (LIFE). NSF BIO seeks to speed discovery and understanding of biological innovations that hold significant potential for applications in the bioeconomy, including industrial processes, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, energy production, nature-based solutions to climate change, and planetary sustainability and resilience. Encourages research proposals using comparative approaches to identify evolutionary convergent adaptations to life’s challenges and the mechanisms that underlie them.
Dear Colleague Letter
Contact: [email protected]
The goal of the New Initiative Research Grants program is to stimulate existing investigators with strong records of research accomplishments to establish collaborations that facilitate innovative interdisciplinary approaches towards a common research question and that require expertise beyond that of any single researcher. Investigators may be at different institutions in Pennsylvania or at the same institution in Pennsylvania, provided that different approaches are combined to address a new research initiative.
Letter of Intent Due: March 20, 2025
Total Funding: $300,000
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) provides funding for research into complementary and integrative health approaches. Eligible entities (including, but not limited to: research and academic institutions, private companies) may submit research grant applications using the Grants.gov website. All applications undergo a rigorous, 2-stage, peer-review system, and funding decisions are made based on the review of applications that are most meritorious and responsive to the mission of NCCIH. (R15 Clinical Trial Optional)
Open Date (Earliest Submission Date): September 29, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Huck research attracts media attention from around the world. Here are a few highlights from this month:
Why you should worry less about ultra-processed foods. [The Washington Post]
Ozempic may protect against Alzheimer’s. [The New York Times]
Bird flu cases on the rise in Pennsylvania. [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]
Cholesterol levels could be slashed with this chocolate treat. [MSN]
Penn State leads fight against phorid flies in mushrooms. [Pennsylvania Ag Connection]
Cicadas to emerge in Pennsylvania. [Yahoo News]
New study pinpoints how to calculate your biological age. [Women’s Health Magazine]
Daily serving of common breakfast item can help you live longer. [The Daily Record]