Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of Illinois University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
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School of Chemical Sciences   |   College of Liberal Arts & Sciences  |   College of Engineering

 

Hyun Joon Kong

Hyun Joon Kong
Kong Group Web Site

Contact Information:
e-mail:
phone: (217) 333-1178
fax: (217) 333-5052

108 Roger Adams Lab
MC-712, Box C-3
600 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801

Assistant Professor
B.S., Hanyang University, Korea, 1992
M.S., Hanyang University, Korea, 1995
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2001
Postdoctorate, University of Michigan, 2001-2004
Research Associate, Harvard University, 2004-2006

Design of Bioinspired Materials, Engineering of Stem Cell Niches, Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering has been emerging as a new therapeutic strategy aimed toward understanding the principles of tissue development and translating this fundamental knowledge into clinical restoration, repair, maintenance, and even improvement of tissue and whole organ function. This innovative strategy has been performed by combining new regenerative medicines including protein, DNA, cells, and engineered biomaterials. In this application, biomaterials have been mainly designed as a mechanical and biochemical scaffold to protect the loaded regenerative medicines from both exterior mechanical deformation and an immunologic response. Recently, the ability of biomaterials to mimic an extracellular matrix, regulating the functions of its loaded elements by recapitulating biological signaling, has become more important to current research efforts.

In this context, our research will focus on
  1. molecular, nano-, and micro-scale design of bio-inspired materials to reproduce structure and function of natural extracellular matrices,
  2. engineering cellular niches to regulate the growth, lineage, and death of stem and progenitor cells using these materials,
  3. development of novel tools to analyze the cross-talk between cell and engineered extracellular matrices, and
  4. application of biologically engineered analogs of therapeutic molecules, cells, and biomaterials for various stem cell-based tissue engineering, including both the regeneration of functional tissue and destruction of pathologic tissue.
Through this research, we will pioneer innovative strategies for designing in vitro cell culture conditions and in vivo cell transplantation devices to be utilized in various tissue engineering and cell-based therapies.

Selected Publications

H. J. Kong, E.S. Kim, Y. C. Huang, and D. J. Mooney, "Design of Biodegradable Hydrogel for the Local and Sustained Delivery of Angiogenic Plasmid DNA Pharmaceutical," 25, 1230-1238 (2008).

T. Boontheekul, H.J. Kong, S.X. Hsiong, Y.C. Huang, L. Mahadevan, H. Vandenburgh, and D. J. Mooney, "Quantifying the Relation Between Bond Number and Myoblast Proliferation," Faraday Discussions (In press, 2008).

K.Y. Lee, H.J. Kong and D.J. Mooney, "Quantifying interactions between cell receptors and adhesion ligand-modified polymers in solution," Macromolecular Bioscience, 8, 140-145 (2008).

H. J. Kong and D. J. Mooney, "Cellular microenvironments to regulate biomacromolecular therapies," Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 6, 455-463 (2007).

H. J. Kong, C.J. Kim, N. D. Huebsch, D. Weitz, D. J. Mooney, "Non-Invasive probing of the spatial organization of polymer chains in hydrogels using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)," Journal of the American Chemical Society, 129, 4518-4519 (2007).

H. J. Kong, S. Hsiong, and D. J. Mooney, "Nanoscale cell adhesion ligands presentation regulates non-viral gene delivery and expression," Nano Letters, 7, 161-166 (2007).

H. J. Kong, T. Boontheekul, D. J. Mooney, "Quantifying the relation between adhesion ligand-receptor bond formation and cell phenotype," Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences (USA) 103, 18534 (2006).

H.J. Kong, J.D. Liu, K. Riddle, T. Matsumoto, K. Leach and D.J. Mooney, "Gene delivery regulated by substrate rigidity," Nature Materials, 4, 460-464 (2005) — Highlighted by Nature 435, 250 (2005).

H.J. Kong, T.R. Polte, E. Alsberg and D.J. Mooney, "FRET measurements of cell-traction forces and nano-scale clustering of adhesion ligands varied by substrate stiffness," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 102, 4300-4305 (2005).

H.J. Kong, E. Alsberg, D. Kaigler, K.Y. Lee and D.J. Mooney, "Controlling degradation of hydrogels via the size of cross-linked junctions," Advanced Materials, 16, 1917-+ (2004).

H.J. Kong, D. Kaigler, K. Kim and D.J. Mooney, "Controlling rigidity and degradation of alginate hydrogels via molecular weight distribution ," Biomacromolecules, 5, 1720-1727 (2004).

H.J. Kong, K.Y. Lee and D.J. Mooney, "Nondestructively probing the cross-linking density of polymeric hydrogels," Macromolecules, 36, 7887-7890 (2003).

H.J. Kong, E. Wong and D.J. Mooney, "Independent control of rigidity and toughness of polymeric hydrogels," Macromolecules, 36, 4582-4588 (2003).

H.J. Kong, M.K. Smith and D.J. Mooney, "Designing alginate hydrogels to maintain viability of immobilized cells," Biomaterials, 24, 4023-4029 (2003).

H.J. Kong, and D.J. Mooney, "The effects of poly(ethyleneimine) molecular weight on reinforcement of alginate hydrogels," Cell Transplantation 12: 779 (2003).

K. W. Riddle, H. J Kong J. K. Leach, C. Fischbach, C. Cheung, K. S. Anseth, D. J. Mooney, "Modifying the proliferative state of target cells to control DNA expression and identifying cell types transfected in vivo," Molecular Therapy (In press, 2006)

K.Y. Lee, H.J. Kong, R.G. Larson and D.J. Mooney, "Hydrogel formation via cell crosslinking," Advanced Materials, 15, 1828-+ (2003) — Editors choice from Science (2003).