Researchers make advances in field of transarterial chemoembolization modeling for liver cancer treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for more than 90% of primary liver cancer and remains a worldwide health problem due to its aggressive and lethal nature. Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the first-line treatment for unresectable HCC. This treatment involves the embolization of tumor vessels and the delivery of high-concentration chemotherapy drugs, which are locally released into the tumor tissues to promote tumor necrosis. However, the therapeutic effect of this method has always been controversial. Therefore, designing an ideal embolization model to evaluate the pharmacokinetics inside the tumor site and accurately evaluate the therapeutic effects of clinically relevant embolization agents is of great significance.

 

 

Assistant Professor Qiongyu Guo’s team from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Assistant Professor Xiaoying Tang’s team from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) have recently collaborated on the publication of a visualized 3D tumor-mimicking chemoembolization model. The model, which combines deep learning and graph analysis methods, has made significant progress in the construction of an ex vivo organ-structured evaluation platform for liver cancer chemoembolization treatment.

Their research results, entitled “A 3D Tumor-Mimicking in Vitro Drug Release Model of Locoregional Chemoembolization Using Deep Learning Based Quantitative Analyses,” have been published in Advanced Science.

 

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the 3D embolization model based on deep learning.

 

Prof. Qiongyu Guo’s and Prof. Xiaoying Tang’s teams collaborated to design a 3D tumor-mimicking drug release model through utilizing decellularized liver organ as a drug-testing platform (Figure 1). The model contains three key features that affect drug release in vivo: a complex vascular system, a drug-diffusible electronegative extracellular matrix, and controllable drug depletion. This drug release model, combined with deep learning-based computational analyses for the first time, permits quantitative evaluation of all important parameters associated with locoregional drug release. The U-shaped segmentation network based on attention mechanism and adversarial training can achieve accurate segmentation of the embolized vascular region with few annotated samples.

A series of image processing and graph analysis algorithms were combined to achieve an accurate and automatic quantitative statistical analysis of drug loss. To further verify the feasibility and accuracy of the model, the study quantitatively analyzed the endovascular embolization distribution, intravascular drug retention, and extravascular drug diffusion, establishing an in vivo-in vitro correlation with in-human results up to 80d.

Using the established 3D tumor-mimicking model, the in vitro chemoembolization efficacy of three different formulations of doxorubicin solution was systematically evaluated (Figure 2). The researchers used image processing algorithms to extract the skeleton of the segmented embolized vessels and constructed a custom multi-level tree. Subsequently, quantitative analysis and statistical comparison were performed at different tree levels, allowing for a clear depiction of the differences in embolization depth and changes in residual drugs within blood vessels for the three formulations over 80 days.

 

Figure 2 Vessel topological analyses. Skeleton extraction and classification of drug-containing vessels of three drug formulations, i.e., DOX Ctrl, EO-DOX, and DEB, tested in the DLM model over 80 d. DOX: doxorubicin solution; EO-DOX: emulsion of ethiodized oil and doxorubicin solution; DEB: drug eluting bead.

 

The local drug concentration within tumors is an important factor in determining their therapeutic efficacy. Taking advantage of the visualization capabilities of the 3D model and the strong self-fluorescence of doxorubicin at low concentrations, the researchers determined the extracellular drug diffusion depth as compared to the drug diffusion behavior observed in in vivo experiments. They found that the drug diffusion depth in this 3D model exhibited great linearity with the in-human results, validating the effectiveness of the embolic chemotherapy model for in vivoin vitro consistency evaluation. This has important guiding significance for the development of new drug formulations and evaluation of embolic chemotherapy efficacy in clinical practice (Figure 3).

Figure 3 Extravascular drug diffusion of drug eluting beads in DLM model and IVIVC.

 

Dr. Xiaoya Liu, a postdoctoral fellow from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at SUSTech, and Xueying Wang, a master’s student from the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at SUSTech, are the first authors of this paper. Asst. Prof. Qiongyu Guo and Asst. Prof. Xiaoying Tang are the corresponding authors. SUSTech is the corresponding institution of the paper. Other collaborating authors included master’s students Yucheng Luo, Meijuan Wang, and Xiaoyu Han, all from SUSTech.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, and SUSTech.

 

Paper link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202206195?af=R

Researchers make progress in whole-cell high-throughput 3D super-resolution imaging across large field of view

While fluorescence microscopy with high contrast and super-resolution has revolutionized structural cell biology studies, high-throughput imaging with rich information content has enabled quantitative biology research. An emerging trend is developing high-throughput super-resolution imaging techniques for high-content screening. However, field-dependent aberrations restrict the field of view (FOV) of super-resolution imaging to only tens of micrometers.

 

 

Associate Professor Yiming Li from the Advanced Microscopy Imaging Laboratory in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) led a team to develop a deep learning algorithm framework to address the field-dependent aberrations and bypass the bottleneck for large FOV imaging.

Their research results, entitled “Field-dependent deep learning enables high-throughput whole-cell 3D super-resolution imaging,” has been published in Nature Methods.

The researchers developed a deep learning method for precise localization of spatially variant point emitters (FD-DeepLoc) over a large FOV covering the full chip of a modern sCMOS camera. Using a graphic processing unit (GPU) based vectorial PSF fitter, they can fast and accurately model the spatially variant point spread function (PSF) of a high numerical aperture (NA) objective in the entire FOV. Combined with deformable mirror-based optimal PSF engineering, they demonstrate high-accuracy 3D SMLM over a volume of ~180 × 180 × 5 μm3, allowing people to image mitochondria and nuclear pore complexes in entire cells in a single imaging cycle without hardware scanning – a 100-fold increase in throughput compared to the state-of-the-art.

This work provides new technical ideas and perspectives for the field of super-resolution microscopy. It also has important theoretical and practical value for the study of nanoscale biological structures in complete cell populations or tissues.

 

Figure 1. Large FOV imaging of cellular nuclear pores

 

Shuang Fu and Wei Shi, doctoral students at SUSTech, are the co-first authors of this paper. Assoc. Prof. Yiming Li is the corresponding author, and SUSTech is the first affiliation.

This work was supported by the Key Technology Research and Development Program of Shandong, Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, and Start-Up Fund from SUSTech.

 

Paper link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-023-01775-5

Prof. Zhi LUO led the National Key R&D Program of SUSTech

The project “Flexible Electronic Materials for Controlled Drug Release and Tissue Regeneration Devices” led by Prof. Zhi LUO, Associate Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Born in 1991, Prof. LUO is the youngest chief scientist of the National Key R&D Program of SUSTech.

Researchers make series of advances in field of ionic neuromorphic devices

In nature, the transmission and processing of information, as well as the energy conversation and storage, are often mediated and regulated using ions and fluids transportation at small scales (e.g., nanopores). It can be said that the language of intelligent life is “ions”, and the language of artificial intelligence is “electrons”.

To realize seamless communications between intelligent life and artificial intelligence, building an artificial intelligence system with “ions” as language is necessary. We should fabricate artificial nanopores on the nanoscale to realize controllable ions transport, which is common in the biological nanopore. On a microscale, it is significant to build an artificial neuron to replicate the generation of the action potential by ions transport. On a macroscale, the construction of a bioinspired neural network is necessary to realize ionic signal transmission and information storage.

Associate Professor Kai Xiao’s research team from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) has made progress on this topic by achieving a series of advances in the field of Bio-inspired Multiscale Ionic Neuromorphic Devices.

Their subsequent papers have been published in top international journals such as Nature CommunicationsCCS ChemistryAdvanced Science, and ACS Nano.

Ionic diode property widely exists in the biological nanopore of intelligent living organisms. To control ions transport unidirectional, cells living organisms can realize a series of physiological activities such as the generation of action potentials and the control of cell osmotic pressure.

To realize ionic diode properties in vitro, Prof. Xiao’s team fabricated a carbon-based nanofluid with multiple scales and realized ionic diode properties with an ionic rectification ratio (on-off ratio) of more than 10,000. This work breaks the existing diode mode of “silicon materials + electrons”, and builds a life-like new diode model of “carbon materials + ions”. This lays a good foundation for the construction of ion transport-based logic circuits and derives ion transport-based transistors and neurons.

The related research results, entitled “Unidirectional ion transport in nanoporous carbon membranes with a hierarchical pore architecture,” were published in Nature Communications.

Figure 1. Carbon-based nanofluids with multiple scales and its ionic diode properties

An ion pump is a unique function of intelligent life. It can realize the reverse concentration gradient transport of ions by consuming external energy. This progress is important for many physiological activities, such as photosynthesis, ATP synthesis, and action potential generation. How to construct a biomimetic ion pump can lay a good foundation for the technological breakthrough of various devices such as ion transport-based photoelectric energy conversion and neural signal regulation.

In their earlier research (Nat. Commun. 2019, 10, 74Natl. Sci. Rev. 2021, 8, nwaa231.), the researchers realized a series of biomimetic ion pump functions and applications by constructing a nanofluidic system based on semiconductor materials. Most recently, they proposed that biomimetic ion pumps can be constructed by introducing asymmetric elements into a nanofluids system. For example, for the widely studied biomimetic light-driven ion pumps, light-driven ion pump properties can be realized by the asymmetric photoelectric effect, photothermal effect, and photochemical reaction, respectively

This study, entitled “Light-Driven Ion Transport in Nanofluidic Devices: Photochemical, Photoelectric, and Photothermal Effects,” was published in CCS Chemistry.

Figure 2. Compared to electrons, ions have many unique advantages in designing energy and information devices. For example, various valencies, different sizes, and diverse polarizabilities. These characterizations enable all energy and information processors constructed by electrons to be redefined by ions.

In recent years, with the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and a deeper understanding of biological intelligence, researchers have found that devices based on electron transport have significant limitations in the process of realizing human-computer interaction. By learning from nature, constructing ions transport-based energy and sensor devices can lay a good foundation for developing the next-generation brain-computer interface and realizing seamless human-computer interaction. This research topic involves interdisciplinary fields such as chemistry, materials, devices, and biology.

Prof. Xiao’s research group was invited to publish a series of reviews and perspectives on how to construct nanoionic devices to realize the functions that nanoelectronic devices cannot satisfy.

These reviews, entitled “Nanoionics from Biological to Artificial Systems: An Alternative Beyond Nanoelectronics” and “Solid-State Iontronic Devices: Mechanisms and Applications,” were published in Advanced Science and Advanced Materials Technologies, respectively.

They pointed out that ions can realize many of the functions that nanoelectronics can achieve. By learning from intelligent life, nanoionics devices also can realize some functions that nanoelectronics cannot. Meanwhile, these perspective articles analyze and compare the advantages and disadvantages of various devices based on ions and electrons. Based on ion transport, they predict that biomimetic nanoionic devices will be another research hotspot following nanoelectronic devices.

Dr. Jianrui Zhang, Dr. Tianming Li, Ms. Tingting Mei, and Ms. Hongjie Zhang are the first authors of the above papers and reviews. Assoc. Prof. Kai Xiao is the corresponding author, while SUSTech is the first affiliation. This work was supported by the National Key Research of China.

 

Paper and related links (In order of appearance above):

Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24947-3

CCS Chemistry: https://www.chinesechemsoc.org/doi/full/10.31635/ccschem.021.202101297

Advanced Science: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/advs.202200534

Advanced Materials Technologies: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/admt.202200205

Prof. Kai Xiao’s group webpage: http://www.xiaokai-group.cn/

SUSTech students win gold award in China’s first synthetic biology competition

A team of students from the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) recently won the Gold Award and the Best Website Award in China’s first synthetic biology innovation competition, SynBio Challenges 2022.

The competition was sponsored by the Synthetic Biology Branch of the Chinese Society of Bioengineering, which aims to provide a platform for young students to communicate, learn, innovate, create, and cultivate their knowledge in synthetic biology, life sciences, and interdisciplinary disciplines.

Twenty-seven teams from 21 universities and colleges across the country participated in SynBio Challenges 2022, and more than 2.2 million people viewed the event online.

The SUSTech team, titled “SUSTech_Shenzhen_HCL”, was led by Prof. Ho Chun Loong from the Department of Biomedical Engineering as the Principal Investigator, Jun CHEN and Xinyi CHEN as the instructors, and Liqing YU, Songlin SHI, and Yehan WANG as the team leaders.

In addition, 14 members from different majors, including Yingxuan GONG, Xianxian WANG, Yijie WANG, Siqi MEN, Hongqiu LEI, Jiayi LIU, Nanfei JIANG, and Xuancheng MO, formed the multidisciplinary team.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal illness caused by infection of the intestine with Vibrio cholerae bacteria, which can cause dehydration and death in severe cases.

The illness is associated with dysregulation of the gut microbiota, so modulation of the gut microbiota could be a treatment for cholera.

Through genetic engineering technology, the SUSTech_Shenzhen_HCL team used Lactobacillus and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria as carriers. They developed a probiotic system that can prevent and treat through the group effect between bacteria. As a result, the team won the Gold Award and the Best Website Award.

SUSTech hosts 10th WACBE World Congress on Bioengineering

On April 22-23, 2022, the World Association for Chinese Biomedical Engineers (WACBE) held its 10th World Congress on Bioengineering. The virtual event was hosted by the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech).

Many experts and scholars presented plenary and keynote reports during the congress, which attracted many young scholars from different disciplinary and research backgrounds to participate in the event.

The conference promotes the exchange of the latest research results in the field of biomedical engineering and enhances the intersection and integration of related disciplines.

The WACBE World Congress on Bioengineering is an annual event that focuses on biomedical engineering approaches that drive innovative technologies and foster solutions. The congress attracts about 400 delegates from all over the world, including academic researchers, industry leaders, medical experts, and trainees.

The 10th WACBE World Congress on Bioengineering

Conference Information

The 10th WACBE World Congress in Bioengineering is taking place at Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China from April 22 to 23, 2022.

The WACBE World Congress on Bioengineering focuses on biomedical engineering approaches that drive innovative technologies and foster solutions that directly impact clinical medical practice. The Congress offers a platform, that the attendees can collaborate on the clinical translation of biomedical technologies. The Congress attracts about 400 delegates from all over the world, including academic researchers, industry leaders, medical experts, and trainees. They are gathering in the Congress to share their experience on bioengineering and showcase contributions that biomedical engineers bring to the health care sector, with new applications that are vital to the quality of life.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the conference will switch to the online only format, using VOOV (international version of Tencent Meeting).

Conference website: https://www.wacbe2022.com/

SUSTech Global Biomedical Engineering Young Scientist Online Forum 2022

The Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) Biomedical Engineering Global Young Scientist Forum is an annual conference for the recruitment of outstanding talent around the world. We are seeking top researchers, educators and leaders in their field to join SUSTech on its journey to become a world-class research university.

 

Forum Schedule

Date: To be notified

Venue: Online (through an remote conference platform)

 

Recruiting Categories

Senior Faculty (Chair Professor / Professor)

Junior Faculty (Tenure-track Associate / Assistant professor)

 

How to apply

Please submit your full CV and a Research Proposal to bmehr@sustech.edu.cn, with subject “SUSTech Biomedical Engineering Global Young Scientist Forum – your research area” for evaluation. Please arrange to have 3 letters of reference sent directly to bmehr@sustech.edu.cn, with the applicant’s name as the subject.

We are recruiting throughout the year. But for inclusion into this forum, please send the application package by January 30, 2022.

 

Contact Information

Ms. Jessie Zhang

Tel: +86-755-88018466

Email: bmehr@sustech.edu.cn

 

Eligibility and Benefits

Senior faculty (Chair Professor / Professor)

1. A candidate should be:

a candidate for a national-level talent program, or

a tenured associate or full professor at a well-known overseas university or research institute, or

a leading talent with internationally recognized achievements.

2.Supporting policies

· Research funds: To be discussed on a case-by-case basis

· Support for research group:

SUSTech enrolls postdoctoral research fellows each year without a cap on enrollment numbers;

A senior faculty may hire research professor(s) on his/her own;

The research professor(s) under an senior faculty member may apply for scientific research start-up fund(s) from SUSTech.

3.Remuneration

(1) Salary: A globally competitive salary is provided;

(2) Public and private insurance:

SUSTech purchases five types of public insurances (endowment insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, industrial injury insurance and maternity insurance) and a housing provident fund that meets the highest standard of The City of Shenzhen.

SUSTech also provides supplementary private medical insurance and high-end commercial medical insurance with coverage that spans the Greater China Region.

(3) Personal subsidies

In accordance with relevant policies of talent programs at the national, provincial or municipal level, SUSTech provides assistance to outstanding faculty members to apply for corresponding talent program(s). Any successful candidate is entitled to the program funding/subsidy in accordance with the relevant rules.

4.Living

(1) Accommodation and subsidies

Temporary on-campus apartments or subsidies for supporting off-campus rental housing are provided, depending on the availability of on-campus faculty housing.

(2) Other benefits

SUSTech can assist in applying for registered permanent residence within Shenzhen or a residence permit for outstanding faculty members and members of their family (spouses and children);

SUSTech can also assist in the school enrollment of children and the employment of spouses of outstanding faculty members.

 

Junior Faculty (Tenure-track Associate / Assistant professor)

1.A candidate should meet the following qualifications:

Be under the age of 40;

Have 3 years of overseas scientific research experience after obtaining a doctoral degree from an overseas university/institute or a doctoral degree from a university/institute in China;

2.Supporting policies

· Research funds:

· A scientific research start-up fund of ~ U$ 700,000 (including the supporting fund from the government) over a five-year span is provided to each junior faculty member by the government and SUSTech.

· Under certain circumstances, research funds can be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

· Support for research group:

SUSTech enrolls postdoctoral research fellows each year without a cap on enrollment numbers;

A young faculty member may hire research professor(s);

The research professor(s) under a young faculty member may apply for scientific research start-up fund(s) from SUSTech.

3.Remuneration

(1) Salary: A globally competitive salary is provided;

(2) Public and private insurance:

SUSTech purchases five types of public insurances (endowment insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, industrial injury insurance and maternity insurance) and a housing provident fund that meet the highest standard of Shenzhen Municipality.

SUSTech also provides supplementary private medical insurance and high-end commercial medical insurance with coverage that spans the Greater China Region.

(3) Personal subsidies

In accordance with relevant policies of talent programs at the national, provincial or municipal level, SUSTech provides assistance to young talent to apply for corresponding talent program(s). Any successful candidate is entitled to the program funding/ subsidy in accordance with the relevant rules.

4.Living

(1) Accommodation

Temporary on-campus apartments or subsidies for supporting off-campus rental housing are provided, depending on the availability of on-campus faculty housing.

(2) Other benefits

SUSTech can assist in applying for registered permanent residence within Shenzhen or a foreigner’s work permit or a foreigner’s residence permit for young faculty members and/or their family members (spouses and children);

SUSTech can also assist in the school enrollment of children and the employment of spouses of young faculty members.

 


 

About SUSTech

Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) is a public university established to a very high standard and high positioning right from the start by the City of Shenzhen, against the background of higher education reform and development in China.

Its mission is to play a pioneering and demonstrative role in the reform of higher education in China, and it serves the goals of both building China into a truly innovative country and building Shenzhen into a truly innovative city.

Established in April 2012 with the approval of the Ministry of Education, SUSTech was selected as a national pilot school for conducting comprehensive national higher education reform. SUSTech undertakes the important mission of building both a modern university system with Chinese characteristics and exploring innovative new model for talent training.

Modeling itself after world-class polytechnic universities in terms of the courses it offers and the model it uses to run the school, SUSTech focuses on teaching and research in sciences, engineering and medicine. It provides undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programs across various fields. It conducts research in a number of new branches of learning, striving to become not just a think tank that can guide social development but also a source of new knowledge and new technologies.

SUSTech will carry forward its spirit of “blazing trails, seeking truth and being practical, adopting reform and fostering innovation, and pursuing excellence.” It will highlight the philosophy that drives the running of the school, that of “creating knowledge, making innovation, and breaking new ground”, while contributing its share to the process of building Shenzhen into a truly internationalized, modernized, and innovative city. It will work hard to rapidly develop into a high-level international research university that attracts first-class faculty members, trains top-notch innovative talents, achieves world-class academic results, and promotes the application of scientific technologies. All these efforts will further reinforce SUSTech’s becoming a world-class research university.

 

About the Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) of SUSTech

The Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) of SUSTech was established in June 2016, and is currently headed by Chair Professor Xingyu JIANG (Ph.D. Harvard University).

The Department currently boasts 40 core faculty members. Many of them have garnered awards including “The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars” and “Outstanding Young Scholars of National Science Foundation of China.”

These core faculty members’ research areas include mechanomedicine, wearable health devices and the wireless monitoring thereof, de novo regenerative engineering, multiscale/multimodal biomedical imaging, computational medicine for Big Data and health informatics, biomedical MEMS, and nanomedicine.

As BME is currently enjoying a golden age of rapid development, it is able to provide each professor with ample laboratory facilities and office space.

The Department sincerely invites and welcomes all outstanding global talents to join us in creating an innovative interdisciplinary research platform. Leveraging the first-class scientific research and teaching conditions at SUSTech, together we will strive to build the Department into an internationally renowned research base for biomedical engineering.

 


 

Further information about the Department is available at https://bme.sustech.edu.cn/

We are hiring more positions, please apply online!

 

welcome all eligible scholars at home and abroad to apply and attend!