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The Engineered Cellular Microenvironments and Microstructures (ECM2) lab, in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of lllinois, develops tools to fabricate, characterize, model, and use three-dimensional biomaterials for a wide range of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. A central paradigm of our work is the development of engineered microstructures that allow modulation of extrinsic regulators of cell behavior in defined increments, and their use to identify material properties to improve construct bioactivity or to induce desired cell behaviors at the single cell or cell population levels. Our research thrusts are primarily focused on developing materials and methods that can be applied to clinically-based problems, are of interest to biomaterial and biotechnological companies, and emphasize multi-disciplinary, collaborative interactions with colleagues in both academia and industry.