Postdoctoral Fellowships (Messersmith Lab) is sponsored by Messersmith Lab, UC Berkeley. The Messersmith Lab is seeking highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellows to join their interdisciplinary team working at the interface of tissue repair and regeneration, drug delivery, aging, and sustainable bioinspired materials.

Messersmith Lab – Bioinspired Materials in Regenerative Medicine and Aging Research at UC Berkeley Postdoctoral Positions Available The Messersmith Lab is a highly interdisciplinary group working at the interface of tissue repair and regeneration, drug delivery, aging and sustainable materials. We are seeking highly motivated Postdoctoral Fellows to join our team.

One … Hydrodissection Paper Published Congratulations to Jisoo Shin, Subhajit Pal, Miles Conrad and the rest of the team for their recent paper published in Journal of Vascular Intervention and Radiology (JVIR)!

Hydrodissection is a procedure performed during cryoablation of … New Sustainable Polymers for Pressure Sensitive and Structural Adhesion In our recent Science paper we described a new adhesive based on alpha-lipoic acid (aLA), a naturally-occurring compound.

In addition to a variety of surgical applications, this paper describes performance as a pressure sensitive adhesive … New Lab Research Effort: Aging and Rejuvenation We have combined forces with the former Conboy group. We look forward to continuing their important work on aging and to launching new research projects at the convergence of biomaterials, regenerative medicine and aging.

Learn … Emma Berman Graduates, Earns BioE Department Citation Award Emma Berman graduated this week and earned the Department Citation in Bioengineering!

The Departmental Citation in Bioengineering is a long-standing award to one bioengineering major for their exceptional academic performance, in addition to impressive achievements … We are an interdisciplinary research group with interests in biological and bioinspired materials, tissue repair and regeneration, and the biology of aging and rejuvenation.

Our mission is to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to improve the human experience through basic science and translational research. At the core of our group is a passion for discovery. We believe that groundbreaking research and world-class training of the next generation of changemakers are the twin engines of progress, and we strive to integrate them to address the most pressing challenges of our time.

Mussel Adhesion and Mussel-Inspired Materials Our group has invested several decades of research into mussel adhesion and mussel-inspired materials. Mussels secrete remarkable protein-based adhesives whose sole purpose is to anchor onto substrates in the turbulent marine environment.

The mussel byssus is formed in minutes from protein-rich secretions that undergo an in-situ hardening reaction to form a tissue that mediates the … In the fall of 2025, Prof. Messersmith became PI of former Prof. Irina Conboy’s group after Irina left UC Berkeley. We are grateful for Irina’s many years of distinguished research on various aspects of aging, and we look forward to continuing this important work.

Listed below are several ongoing projects. Clearing Senescent and Cancer Cells … Tissue Adhesives and Sealants Tissue adhesives and sealants are ubiquitous in the modern medical and dental clinic, offering a minimally invasive alternative to traditional mechanical closure methods like sutures and staples.

These materials allow practitioners to accomplish their clinical goals by providing immediate mechanical support, control bleeding and promote healing of tissues. The term “adhesive” designates a material designed … Regenerative medicine is a broad interdisciplinary field focused on repairing, replacing, or regenerating human cells, tissues, or organs to restore normal physiological function.

Tissue engineering is a core sub-discipline that specifically applies the principles of engineering and life sciences, often utilizing porous scaffolds. The vast majority of work in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering relies … Rapid global expansion in plastics use represents a significant threat to our environment and to human health.

Reliance on fossil fuel feedstocks coupled with the lack of effective recycling systems for most plastics, has led to persistent environmental pollution and the pervasive spread of harmful microplastics. To safeguard both the environment and human health, we … Nanotechnology & Nanomedicine Nanotechnology refers to a variety of technologies that utilize materials with dimensions in the 1–1000 nm range.

The basis of this field is the long-standing observation that physical properties of many materials are fundamentally different in the nano size range as compared to larger particles of the same material.

When these concepts are specifically applied … Emma Berman Graduates, Earns BioE Department Citation Award Hydrodissection Paper Published Profile of Group Member Emma Berman Upcoming Presentations by Group Members “Drug-Induced Tissue Regeneration: Stem Cell Therapy Without the Stem Cells”, to be presented by Prof. Messersmith at the Sea Cliff Seminar Series, Organogenesis and Tissue Replacement Lab, San Francisco, CA, April 21, 2026.

“Dynamic Covalent and Supramolecular Polymers for Fetal Membrane Repair: Physical and Pharmacologic Approaches”, to be presented by Prof. Messersmith at the Soft Matter Workshop, Barbados, May 2-8, 2026.

“Versatile and Sustainable Polymers Derived from a -Lipoic Acid”, to be presented at the International School of Materials for Sustainable Development and Energy”, Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture, Erice, Sicily, 6–11 August 2026.

“Polymers of alpha-lipoic acid: fine-tuning properties through monomer composition and graphene incorporation”, to be presented at the American Chemical Society Fall Meeting, Chicago IL, Aug 22-26, 2026. Pal, E. Salzman, D.

Ramirez, H. Chen, C. A.

Perez, K. Dale, S. K.

Ghosh, L. Lin, P. B.

Messersmith, “Versatile solid-state medical superglue precursors of a-lipoic acid”, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2025, 147, 13377−13384. [Link] Z Wu, Q Shi, J Wang, C Tao, S Zhang, PB Messersmith, J Shi, “Rapidly Roughening Polydopamine Nanocoating Through Polyphenol Chemistry”, Advanced Functional Materials 2025, e11171. [ Link ] Cheung, P.

B. Messersmith, and K. H.

Lau, “Specific and non-specific interactions of fibronectin with zwitterionic peptoid brushes studied by molecular dynamics simulation”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2025, 27, 25116-25126. [ Link ] K. Ghosh, S.

Pal, K. Roy, W. Yue, Y.

Gao, F. Xia, P. He, S.

Sarkar, M. Teng, J. Park, P.

Tsao, X. Li, S. Tofail, P.

B. Messersmith, L. Lin, “Highly Responsive Self‐Healing and Degradable Piezoelectric Soft Machines”, Advanced Materials 2025, 37 (39), 2507859.

[ Link ] Oreja, D. Zaytseva-Zotova, A. Rogala, A.

Barrantes, P. B. Messersmith, H.

Tiainen, “Multifunctional Tannic Acid and Polyamino Acid Layer-by-Layer Coatings for Tailored Implant Surfaces”, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering 2025, 11 (9), 5376-5388.

[ Link ] Nivedina A Sarma, Alexandra Grigoropoulos, Mustafa Arslan, Erika E Salzman, Panagiotis Christakopoulos, Honghai Zhang, Kelsey G DeFrates, Joakim Engström, Peter V Bonnesen, Sai Venkatesh Pingali, Ting Xu, Phillip B Messersmith, Ahmad K Omar, “Tunable Nanostructures from Inverse Surfactants”, arXiv:2511. 12407, 2025. [ Link ] Made with by Graphene Themes .