Biography
Prof. Chih-Chang (C.C.) Chu received his PhD in chemistry from the Florida State University, USA, and joined Cornell as an assistant professor in Aug. 1978. He is the first recipient of the Rebecca Q. Morgan ’60 endowed chair professor in Jan. 2009 at Cornell University, New York, USA, and retired as the Rebecca Q. Morgan ’60 Professor Emeritus in Jan. 2021. Chu is selected by the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) as the year of "Scientist Medal" award in 2023. Chu is also the recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in May, 2009. Chu was inducted into the fellow of International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) March 2022, the American Academy of Inventors in 2019, and the College of Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in Washington, DC in 2014. Chu received the Golden Eagle award as outstanding alumnus from his alma mater, Tamkang University, Taiwan in 2018. Chu is also the Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University since 2019, and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University since 2020. Chu is also the distinguished guest professor of Chang-Chun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science in Chang-Chun, Ji-Lin, and the Xi’An Jiao-Tong University, Xi’An, China. Chu also served on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Center for Chinese herbal Medicine Drug Development in Hong Kong since 2021, the Biology/Medicine Panel of the Hong Kong Research Grant Council from 2010 - 2013, and was a member of the Hong Kong Research Grant Council Collaborative Research Fund Committee. Prof. Chu is in the editorial board of 7 journals. He has published 221 referred research papers (h-index:65; citation: 13,406), 3 books, a recipient of 85 US and international patents (32 US and 53 International) and 30 pending.
Chu came to Cornell with the mission to establish a multidisciplinary research and teaching programs in biomedical-related field biomaterials and is one of few pioneers in the establishment of Cornell biomedical engineering graduate program in early 1990s and department in 2000s. In second half of 1990s, Prof. Chu has focused on the multidisciplinary research of novel design, synthesis and evaluation of a new novel family of biologic active biodegradable polymers (pseudo-protein biomaterials) that would have very unique biological properties including tunable immune-responsive capability, promoting cell growth, facilitating wound healing and that are nontoxic. The new family of biodegradable pseudo-protein biomaterials created by his program have been engineered or formulated into melt-spun fibers, electron-spun nanofibrous membranes, micro- and nanoparticles as drug carriers for cancer therapy, 3D microporous hydrogels for tissue engineering, 3D printing of tissues/organs like prostate, and films for coating etc. The new family of pseudo-protein biomaterials have been evaluated for surgical repair of injured or diseased tissues, tissue regeneration like vascular grafts, drug-eluting stents, burn treatment, wound closure and drug control/release of both Chinese and western medicines for cancer therapy. A commercial drug-eluting stent (Slender IDS®) with the Chu’s pseudo-protein biomaterial coating was approved for commercial human use in Europe in 2016 and in USA in 2022.
Group Website: http://www.chu.human.cornell.edu/
Research interests
Prof. C. C. Chu's research activity in the field of advanced materials has focused on the multidisciplinary biomedical polymers for both basic and applied-oriented directions: Applied research involves the design, synthesis of new novel families of biodegradable and biologically active polymers for human body repair, while his Basic research involves the study of degradation mechanisms of synthetic biodegradable polymers, and use of their degradation mechanism as new tools for examining polymer/fiber morphology.
Chu focuses on the research and development of several novel and totally new families of biologically active biodegradable polymers/fibers (i.e., synthetic amino acid-based pseudo-proteins) for tissue regeneration and repair like vascular grafts, wound closure, biodegradable composite orthopaedic devices and drug and gene control/release purposes. These new families of amino acid-based pseudo-protein biomaterials were nature-inspired design of new materials, and have also been engineered into a variety of physical forms (e.g, fibers, fabrics, hydrogels, micro/nanospheres, micelle and film) for a variety of biomedical applications.
The Chu’s latest applied-oriented biomaterial research activity has focused on the design, synthesis and biological property of “Tunable Immuno-responsive (TIR) polymeric biomaterials so that these TIR-biomaterials can be used to alter the phenotype of immune cells like macrophage from cytotoxic inflammatory M1 phenotype to tissue regeneration M2 phenotype or vice versa. The capability of TIR-biomaterials to modulate macrophage phenotype from M1 to M2 was demonstrated in both in vitro and in vivo models for significantly improving the healing rate and quality of a highly inflammatory 3rd degree burn diabetic mouse model. Its application can be extended to treat highly inflammatory diseases like Crohn and inflammatory bowel syndrome etc. The outcome of TIR-biomaterials to modulate macrophage phenotype from M2 to M1 can pave the path toward using TIR-biomaterials for immunotherapy of cancer. These TIR-biomaterials have also been engineered into nanoparticles, fibrous membranes and film forms for potential clinical applications.
In the basic research, Chu focuses on a comprehensive and systematic study of the basic degradation mechanism of synthetic biodegradable polymers and fibers from both theoretical and experimental means for achieving an overall in-depth understanding of biodegradation mechanisms of those commercially viable synthetic biodegradable polymeric biomaterials. In the theoretical front, the Chu’s research activities include: theoretical understanding of the effects of chemical structure on degradation phenomena through supercomputer molecular modeling and molecular dynamic simulations. In the experimental front, Chu examined all possible intrinsic and extrinsic factors that could affect the degradation property and the role of free radicals in degradation. Chu also examined the effect of morphology of synthetic biodegradable polymers and fibers on degradation and the use degradation phenomena to reveal polymer/fiber morphology.