Pairing Biomaterials and Designed Protein Technologies Offers Scientists Increased Control of Intracellular Processes
December 12, 2025 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research |The use of computational protein engineering technology to engineer transient, membrane-less organelles inside living cells is the subject of a new study led by the DeForest Research Group in collaboration with the Baker Lab. Read More
Kelly Stevens to Co-Lead NIH Funded Center to Foster New Ideas and Fight Inequity
June 27, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty |Kelly Stevens and Lola Eniola-Adefeso at the University of Michigan are co-leaders of a new NIH-funded center that will spur biomaterials translational solutions and bring together traditional, nontraditional, and historically excluded biomaterials researchers. Read More
Protein-Based Biomaterial Protects Injected Cells, Improves Engraftment
March 13, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research |Research led by Cole DeForest, PhD in collaboration with Chuck Murry, MD, PhD and Kelly Stevens, PhD details a new protein-based biomaterial that could help improve engraftment and function following injectable cell therapies. Read More
SpyLigation Uses Light to Switch on Proteins
April 17, 2023 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research |Light-activation technology developed by the Cole DeForest Research Group has potential applications in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and understanding how the body works. Read More
DeForest Lab Pioneers 4D Biomimicry Systems With Ingenuity, Collaboration, and an NIH Grant
October 1, 2020 | Categories: Award, Core Faculty, Uncategorized |In reality show terms, Cole DeForest and his team manufacture tiny bio-worlds staged to mimic living systems, force an eclectic cast of cells to cohabitate, apply light, heat, and chemicals to stir up drama, then record it all with sophisticated monitoring equipment. What they see on the tiniest scales, could have major implications for medicine. Read More
Improving Islet Transplantation to Treat Type 1 Diabetes
June 22, 2020 | Categories: Award |A major grant from the NIH will allow three ISCRM investigators to use their combined expertise in islet and stem cell biology, vascular biology and cellular immunology, and biomaterials to significantly improve the wellbeing of people with type 1 diabetes. Read More
Researchers program biomaterials with ‘logic gates’ that release therapeutics in response to environmental triggers
January 16, 2018 | Categories: Research |Drug treatments can save lives, but sometimes they also carry unintended costs. After all, the same therapeutics that target pathogens and tumors can also harm healthy cells. To reduce this collateral damage, scientists have long sought specificity in drug delivery systems: A package that can encase a therapeutic and will not disgorge its toxic cargo until it reaches the site of treatment — be it a tumor, a diseased organ or a site of infection. Read More