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Hongli Sun

Associate Professor

Introduction

Dr. Hongli Sun is an Associate Professor at Iowa Institute for Oral Health Research and the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Dentistry. Prior to joining Iowa in 2018, Dr. Sun was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of South Dakota. Their research seeks to develop novel biomaterials-based strategies to improve challenged bone (e.g., large, aged, or irradiated bone defects) tissue regeneration by mimicking the natural bone healing process. They are particularly interested in understanding the underlying the mechanisms by which osteogenic differentiation of the resident adult stem cells is regulated by the microenvironmental cues during tissue injury and repair. Inspired by these fundamental findings, they are devoted to developing novel nano-biomaterials/drug delivery-based translational strategies for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Dr. Sun's long-term goal is to develop novel therapeutics for musculoskeletal related diseases, including large bone defects, vascular ossification, and cancer bone metastasis.

Current Positions

  • Associate Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
  • Associate Professor of Iowa Institute for Oral Health

Education

  • PhD in Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

Center, Program and Institute Affiliations

Selected Awards & Honors

  • the OVPR Interdisciplinary Scholars Award, University of Iowa, Iowa City
  • the Iowa Mid-Career Faculty Scholar Award, University of Iowa, Iowa City
  • USD President’s Awards for Research Excellence: New & Mid-Career Faculty, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Professional Memberships

  • Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
  • Society for Biomaterials Research (SFB)
  • International Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research (IADR)/American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research(AADOCR)

Selected Publications

  • Wang Z, Hu J, Marschall JS, Yang L, Zeng E, Zhang S, Sun H* (2024). Anti-aging Metabolite-Based Polymeric Microparticles for Intracellular Drug Delivery and Bone Regeneration. Small Science. doi.org/10.1002/smsc.202400201
  • Miszuk J, Hu J, Wang Z, Onyilagha O, Younes H, Hill C, Tivanski AV, Zhu Z, Sun H* (2024). Reactive Oxygen-Scavenging Polydopamine Nanoparticle Coated 3D Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Improved Osteogenesis: Toward an aging in vivo bone regeneration model. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part B-Applied Biomaterials. doi.org/10.1002/jbm.b.35456
  • Miszuk, J., Sun, H*.Drug Delivery Systems for Musculoskeletal Tissues: Drug Delivery Systems for Bone, 47-74. link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-55653-1_2
  • Remy, M. T., Upara, C., Ding, Q., Miszuk, J., Sun, H., & Hong, L. (2024). MicroRNA-200c Release from Gelatin-Coated 3D-Printed PCL Scaffolds Enhances Bone Regeneration. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c01105. PMID: 38531043.PMCID: PMC11005014.
  • Ding, Q., Remy, M. T., Upara, C., Hu, J., Mora Mata, A. V., Haes, A. J., Lanzel, E., Sun, H., Buchakjian, M. R. & Hong, L. (2023). CaCO(3) Nanoparticles Delivering MicroRNA-200c Suppress Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Journal of dental research 220345231216110. DOI: 10.1177/00220345231216110. PMID: 38149503.
  • Miszuk, J. & Sun, H*. (2023). Biomimetic Therapeutics for Bone Regeneration: A Perspective on Antiaging Strategies. Macromolecular bioscience e2300248. DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202300248. PMID: 37769439.
  • Su, D., Swearson, S., Krongbaramee, T., Sun, H., Hong, L. & Amendt, B. A. (2023). Exploring microRNAs in craniofacial regenerative medicine. Biochemical Society transactions 51 (2) 841-854. DOI: 10.1042/BST20221448. PMID: 37073783.
  • Remy, M. T., Ding, Q., Krongbaramee, T., Hu, J., Mora Mata, Andres V, Haes, A. J., Amendt, B. A., Sun, H., Buchakjian, M. R. & Hong, L. (2022). Plasmid encoding miRNA-200c delivered by CaCO3-based nanoparticles enhances rat alveolar bone formation. Nanomedicine 17 (19) 1339--1354.
  • Sandhurst, E. S., Jaswandkar, S. V., Kundu, K., Katti, D. R., Katti, K. S., Sun, H., Engebretson, D. & Francis, K. R. (2022). Nanoarchitectonics of a microsphere-based scaffold for modeling neurodevelopment and neurological disease. ACS Applied Bio Materials 5 (2) 528--544.
  • Wang, Z., Hu, J., Faber, J., Miszuk, J. & Sun, H*. (2022). Locally Delivered Metabolite Derivative Promotes Bone Regeneration in Aged Mice. ACS Applied Bio Materials 5 (7) 3281--3289.

Selected Grants & Contracts

  • Rejuvenating aged bone regeneration by innovative nanomaterials-mediated drug delivery; NIH; Sun, Hongli (Principal Investigator)
  • Assessing the role of Type I Interferon (IFN-I) in Periodontal Disease; NIH/NIDCR; Sun, Hongli (co-Investigator)
  • Functionalized Nanofibrous Scaffold for Endogenous Bone Regeneration; NIH/NIDCR; Sun, Hongli (Principal Investigator)
  • MRI: Acquisition of a Micro-CT system for 3D tissue and materials structure analysis; NSF; Sun, Hongli (Principal Investigator)
  • Novel Injectable Biomaterials for Periodontitis; NIH; Sun, Hongli (Principal Investigator)