OKEYO KENNEDYOMONDI

My research focuses on design and function manipulation of multicellular systems using engineering tools. The aims are to 1) clarify the role of mechanical factors in the realization and control of biological functions at both the cellular and tissue level, and 2) to harness engineering techniques to create functional tissues and biologics for regenerative medicine, drug development, etc. Different tools have been developed and are being employed toward achieving these aims. Remarkably, an original micromesh culture approach, dubed the "shoji" technique, has been developed to modulate the cell adhesion microspace, enabling not only the induction of self-organization of multicellular systems including cell sheets, but also function manipulation of the same. 

Ongoing and past projects include:

1) Mechanobiology of stem cell self-organization and differentiation, which focuses on understanding how engineering the stem cell adhesion microenvironment determines stem cell tissue formation and fate decision.

2) Biofabrication of cell sheets with controlled cell alignment for regenerative medicine applications.

3) Development of blood brain barrier (BBB) model recapitulating the in vivo architecuture and multicellular interactions using self-organized endothelial cell sheets realized by the "shoji" technique.

4) On-chip high-yield single cell fusion technique employing electric field concentration for single-cell surgery and function manipulation toward immunoengineering and regerative medicine applications.