Born in Tehran, Iran, Dr. Ali Khademhosseini grew up in Toronto and received his PhD in Bioenginering from MIT in 2005. He currently holds a multi-departmental Professorship in Bioengineering, Radiology, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. He is the Director for the Center for Minimally Invasive Therapeurics, C-MIT. Prior to moving to UCLA Dr. Khademhosseini was a Professor at Harvard Medical School, a faculty member at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, HST, and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Dr. Khademhosseini is also an Associate Editor for ACS Nano. He was a standing member of the NIH-BTSS (Bioengineering, Technology and Surgical Sciences) study section. He has delivered more than 250 invited seminars and keynote lectures. Consecutively, from 2014 to 2018 Dr. Khademhosseini was recognized as one of the Worlds Most Influential Minds by Thomson Reuters.
SoLS Corresponding Editor, Dr. Kathrin Bohn-Wippert spoke to Dr. Khademhosseini and these are the excerpts:
KBW:You hold a multi-departmental professorship in Bioengineering, Radiology, Chemical, and Biomolecular Engineering. Was it always your dream to become a professor?
AK: Yes. When I was a little kid, I dreamt of being a professional baseball player and/or a chess master. I got the research bug during my college years when I had my first research experience. Then, I decided to pursue a career in research and be a professor at a major research university. I had several mentors along the way, specifically Robert Langer and Nicholas Peppas deserve credit for where I am today. They are very inspirational, visionary and yet remain humble as leaders.
KBW:Which was the biggest obstacle you had to face to reach your position?
AK:One of the biggest obstacles I encountered was being an immigrant in the US. I had to work harder compared to my peers. Things were never easy nor served on a gold platter, hard work, passion, and discipline allowed me to reach my goals.
KBW:Your group is interested in developing personalized solutions that utilize micro-and nanoscale technology to support therapies for different diseases like cancer and organ failure. Have you ever been interested in developing micro-and nanoscale biomaterials to control cellular behavior?
AK:As you know cellular microenvironment has a strong influence on the characteristics and behavior of cells. In my research I combined recent advances in micro and nanoengineering and biomaterials to control cellular environment.
I have assembled cells in microengineered hydrogel systems that can be used to control tissue microarchitecture (e.g., cell alignment, cell-cell interactions, and microvasculature). I have synthesized shape-controlled hydrogels that can contain different cells types and/or different biological factors. I have then developed approaches to assemble these micro-scale building blocks into larger mesoscale structures towards the goal of engineering functional tissue sub-units.
KBW:What would you highlight about your current research lines?
AK:My research in a nut shell applies the latest advances in engineering and materials to solve challenging problems in medicine. I am currently interested in developing on chip tissue models for regenerative medicine and drug discovery applications. We utilize bioprinting and microfabrication to generate sophisticated tissue constructs. On another front, I use micro and nanotechnologies to treat diseases such as aneurysms using novel biomaterials(recently started a company on this). In the biomaterials space, I work on surgical sealants for applications eye, liver and lung.
I believe our group push has been in the development of shear thinning biomaterials delivered endoscopically this has been our big push in recent years..
KBW:Time is going fast, especially in education and research. Is there any major difference between current and past researchers?
AK:Internet and social media has made a big difference. The number of publications and journals have advanced significantly during the past few decades. People do not go to library anymore, with internet access they can download any publication at any time. In addition, the awareness of current medical problems and knowledge of cutting edge technologies have pervasive. The social media and internet can be utilized to acquire deeper knowledge in many fields, however could be a distraction at times. Hence having discipline and laser sharp focus is a prerequisite to do well in achieving ones goals.
KBW:There are many skills a senior professor needs, e.g. managing people, teaching, research, grant writing, etc. You have received over 40 awards and grants during your career. How did you learn to write the perfect grant application?
AK:Perseverance and practice- I started writing grants early in my career with excellent mentors. I try do the same with my students, expose them early in the writing processes in order for them to see all the layers involved in submitting are search proposal.
KBW:You are highly passionate about training students and postdoctoral fellows. Not too long ago you received the MIT’s Outstanding Undergraduate mentor. Which advice would you give to young researchers and students?
AK:Get involved in research as an undergraduate perhaps during summer breaks. Talk to professors whose research you like and see if they have open positions. Try to explore few different labs to find your passion in life and then move full speed to achieve it.
KBW:Many professors are so busy that they don’t have time to work in the lab anymore. Do you still get some opportunity to do bench work or do you only lead the lab andwork in the office? (If you don’t work in the lab anymore: Do you miss bench work?)
AK: Conferences, and submitting grants keep me away from actual pipetting or bioprinting However, I walk around lab whenever I can. In fact, my office is right across my lab which allows to me to talk to the people in the lab as much as possible. Communication is the key in keeping each other engaged and that for me is my umbilical cord to bench work.
KBW:Everyone has a personal dream in his/her career. What would be your personal dream which you want to achieve in your career.
AK: I just want to continue doing what I am good at; advance the field of bioengineering and medicine and bring novel solutions to current medical problems. I also have a passion to continue giving young researchers opportunities for learning and research and have mentored some of the next generation rising junior faculty at institutions around the world.