SEMINAR: Exploring Structure, Mechanics, and Function in Soft Biological Matter Across Scales
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Soft biological systems can be understood as living soft materials with organization spanning multiple length scales, from extracellular fibrous networks to intracellular polymers and molecular assemblies. Across these scales, material structure governs mechanical properties, which in turn regulate biological function. My research integrates soft matter physics and materials science to establish quantitative structure-property-function relationships in living soft materials, with the long-term goal of translating these principles into rational materials design strategies.
In this talk, I will demonstrate how materials science principles emerge in soft biological matter. At the extracellular scale, I show how the microstructure of fibrin networks, the mechanical scaffold of blood clots, controls nonlinear mechanical behavior, resilience, and failure. By tuning structural parameters with Zn2+, I demonstrate how network architecture determines bulk mechanics and mechanical stability. At the cellular scale, I develop quantitative material characterization tools to probe intracellular mechanics, and reveal how distinct cytoskeletal polymer networks collectively determine the material state of the cell. At the subcellular scale, I investigate biomolecular condensates formed through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) as dynamic intracellular materials, emphasizing how the organization of the chromatin network regulates condensate phase behavior and properties. Finally, I will discuss how engineered microstructural features of materials can direct stem cell behavior and fate decisions, informing strategies for tissue engineering applications.
Together, these studies establish a general framework for understanding living soft materials whose internal structure determines mechanical response and functional output, opening opportunities for materials-informed approaches to regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and the design of cell-instructive biomaterials.
Dr. Jing Xia is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University. His research focuses on the physical principles governing the organization and function of soft biological materials, spanning biomaterials, cells, and intracellular assemblies. At Princeton, Dr. Xia works with Professor Clifford P. Brangwynne to investigate chromatin mechanics and liquid–liquid phase separation of biomolecular condensates, advancing quantitative understanding of the material principles that regulate nuclear organization and function. Dr. Xia earned his Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Harvard University under the supervision of Professor David A. Weitz. His doctoral research examined structure–mechanics relationships in biomaterials, cellular mechanobiology, and the development of quantitative tools to characterize the physical state of living cells. His work has been published in prominent journals, including Nature Communications, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Biomaterials, Acta Biomaterialia, among others.