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Kong, Hyunjoon Braun, Paul Leckband, Deborah Leal, Cecelia Chen, Qian Qin, Ellen Chin 2020-03-02T22:38:35Z 2020-03-02T22:38:35Z 2022-03-03T10:15:08Z 2019-12-05 2019-12 Cell behavior is regulated by a number of different mechanical and chemical cues within the extracellular microenvironment, including the surrounding matrix and neighboring cells. Although biomaterials have been engineered to present several adhesion molecules that mimic cell-extracellular matrix interactions, many materials do not consider the effects of cell-cell interactions. One such molecule is N-cadherin, a cell-cell adhesion protein which is expressed on both MSCs and neurons. N-cadherin regulates cytoskeleton organization, mechanotransduction, paracrine function, stem cell development, and neuronal growth. This molecule is an ideal candidate that can be incorporated into biomaterials to mimic cell-cell interactions. Recent efforts incorporated N-cadherin as well as other cell-cell adhesion proteins in hydrogel systems. However, the design of materials that effectively mimic N-cadherin interactions is not well-understood. With this in mind, my doctoral research examined the role of N-cadherin in modulating cell behaviors and the exploitation of these findings to design materials that regulate cell functions. Chapter 2 investigates the impact of different N-cadherin fragments on mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) mechanosensing and paracrine function. Chapter 3 explores how recombinant N-cadherin protein coated on different surfaces can instruct the formation of neural networks. Finally, Chapter 4 investigates the influence of N-cadherin on the secretion of exosomes, and their effects on stem cell differentiation and neuronal cultures. Together, these studies present the framework for building biomaterials that mimic cadherin-mediated cell-cell interactions in order to study stem cell mechanotransduction, to enhance paracrine function in the context of stem cell differentiation, and to improve the culture of neurons. Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2021-12-01 The student, Ellen Qin, accepted the attached license on 2019-08-30 at 06:16. The student, Ellen Qin, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2019-08-30 at 06:27. This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2019-12-05 at 18:16. DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #14441 on 2020-02-28 at 17:35:15 Made available in DSpace on 2020-03-02T22:38:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 QIN-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf: 3655796 bytes, checksum: bf98a6d7a2938a4c859a8dc934955bf1 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4206 bytes, checksum: c40475958b32028d4ce4a1fd07fdbc85 (MD5) PROQUEST_LICENSE.txt: 4552 bytes, checksum: 26d3bdfa6cf963f27eb6e67932ab4a47 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-12-05 Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 113967 Lift date: 2022-03-02T22:39:04Z Reason: Author requested closed access (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system Limited Restriction Lifted for Item 113967 on 2022-03-03T10:15:08Z. application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106423 en Copyright 2019 Ellen Chin Qin cadherin stem cells neurons hydrogel graphene exosome Cell culture platforms with cell-cell adhesive ligands for biomedical applications text text Materials Science & Engineerng Materials Science & Engr University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Dissertation Ph.D.