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UID:0-8321@eng.ufl.edu
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260407T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260407T100000
DTSTAMP:20260306T193255Z
URL:https://www.eng.ufl.edu/news-events/events/che-2026-spring-seminar-ser
 ies-victor-rivera-llabres-phd/
SUMMARY:ChE 2026 Spring Seminar Series - Victor Rivera-Llabres\, PhD
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Victor Rivera-Llabres\, PhD\nDepartment of Chemical an
 d Biomolecular Engineering\nUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign\n\n
 Talk title: Leveraging engineered biomaterials to investigate material med
 iated migration\, remodeling\, and regulation of hematopoiesis \n\nAbstrac
 t: Biomaterials are widely used in tissue engineering and regenerative med
 icine\, with applications spanning drug delivery\, tissue substitutes\, st
 em cell expansion\, and disease modeling. As understanding of cell-materia
 l interactions advances\, increasing control over the spatial and temporal
  properties of biomaterials is required. Granular hydrogels\, composed of 
 individual hydrogel microparticles\, offer enhanced modularity and emergen
 t rheological properties arising from particle assembly. While these syste
 ms have demonstrated significant potential for tissue engineering\, struct
 ure-property relationships have largely been limited to porosity or rheolo
 gical behavior as a function of microgel size or packing density. Conseque
 ntly\, little is known about how the underlying molecular parameters of th
 e microgel building blocks—such as molecular weight\, crosslink density\
 , polymer architecture\, or interparticle interactions—govern the mechan
 ics of assembled granular systems. Establishing these relationships would 
 enable the rational\, bottom-up design of granular hydrogels with tailored
  properties. \n\nHematopoiesis is the lifelong process by which hematopoie
 tic stem cells (HSCs) generate all blood and immune cells. Diseases such a
 s myelomas\, leukemias\, and lymphomas disrupt this process and often requ
 ire myeloablative therapies\, which deplete the system of HSCs\, making HS
 C transplantation essential for hematopoietic reconstitution. HSC fate dec
 isions\, including quiescence\, self-renewal\, and differentiation take pl
 ace in\, and are regulated by\, unique bone marrow niches. HSCs can be rig
 orously identified and functionally validated. Extensive work has identifi
 ed myriads of extracellular matrices\, biomolecular\, or metabolic (e.g.\,
  hypoxia) cues that induce functional shifts in HSC activity. Yet while th
 e marrow is known to change substantially across the lifespan\, studies of
  the influence of niche remodeling on HSC behavior remain poorly understoo
 d. Remodeling is responsible for both long-term (e.g.\, ageing) and short-
 term (e.g.\, paracrine/autocrine signaling) shifts in the microenvironment
 .  \n\nThis presentation will highlight recent efforts to establish struct
 ure-property-function relationships in granular hydrogels and apply these 
 materials as in vitro platforms to study HSC activity and niche-driven reg
 ulation. \n\nBiosketch: Dr. Victor Rivera-Llabres joined the Department of
  Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Ur
 bana-Champaign as a postdoctoral associate in 2025. He is also a member of
  the Carl Woese Institute for Genomic Biology – Regenerative Biology and
  Tissue Engineering Core group. Dr. Rivera-Llabres earned his B.S. in Chem
 ical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico – Mayaguez in 2019. 
 He went on to receive his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Universit
 y of Florida in 2024\, where he worked under the guidance of Dr. Carlos Ri
 naldi-Ramos developing micropatterned hydrogels and magnetic microparticle
 s for tissue engineering and biomedical imaging applications\, respectivel
 y. While at UF\, Dr. Rivera-Llabres received a National Science Foundation
  Graduate Research Fellowship in 2020. He commenced postdoctoral studies a
 t UIUC and is currently working on developing granular biomaterial models 
 of the bone marrow to study stem cell mediated remodeling of tissues\, str
 ucture-function-property relationships\, and ageing of hematopoiesis. Vict
 or is interested in leading an interdisciplinary research laboratory focus
 ed on the development\, characterization\, and translation of engineered b
 iomaterial models to inform therapies for hematopoietic stem cell transpla
 nts and as potential disease treatments.  \n
CATEGORIES:Seminars
LOCATION:NEB 202\, 1064 CENTER DR GAINESVILLE\, FL 32611 Bldg #: 0033\, Gai
 nesville\, Florida\, 32611\, United States
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