Jason Burdick

  • Bowman Endowed Professor
  • CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

Education

BS, University of Wyoming (1998)
PhD, University of Colorado (2002)

Awards

  • Overall Achievement Award, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, CU Boulder (2025)
  • Elected Member, National Academy of Medicine (2024)
  • Top 1% Highly Cited Researchers, Clarivate Analytics (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • International Award, European Society for Biomaterials (2024)
  • International Fellow, The Canadian Academy of Engineering (2023)
  • Elected Fellow Biomaterials Science and Engineering, IUS-BSE (2020)
  • Chaffer Visiting Fellowship, University of Otago – New Zealand (2019)
  • Acta Biomaterialia Silver Medal Award (2019)
  • Elected Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) (2019)
  • Elected Fellow, National Academy of Inventors (NAI) (2019)
  • Clemson Award for Basic Research, Society for Biomaterials (2018)
  • George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research, UPenn (2018)
  • Top 1% Highly Cited Researchers, Clarivate Analytics (2018, 2019, 2020)
  • Young Talent Award, Conference of Molecular Engineering of Polymers (2016)
  • American Heart Association Established Investigator Award (2014)
  • Elected Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) (2011)
  • NIH/NIBIB Edward C. Nagy New Investigator Award (2011)
  • Kalpana Chalwa Outstanding Recent Alumni Award, University of Colorado (2011)
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2009)
  • Coulter Foundation Early Career Award (2008)
  • ACS Petroleum Research Fund Early Career Grant (2007)
  • Packard Foundation Fellowship in Science and Engineering (2007)

Selected Publications

  • A.P. Dhand, M.D. Davidson, J.A. Burdick, Lithography-based 3D Printing of Hydrogels, Nature Reviews Bioengineering, 3:108-125, 2025.
  • N. Di Caprio, A.J. Hughes, J.A. Burdick, Programmed Shape Transformations in Cell-laden Granular Composites, Science Advances, 11:eadq5011, 2025.
  • A.P. Dhand, M.D. Davidson, H.M. Zlotnick, T.J. Kolibaba, J.P. Killgore, J.A. Burdick, Additive Manufacturing of Highly Entangled Polymer Networks, Science, 385:566-572, 2024.
  • K.L. Xu, N. Di Caprio, H. Fallahi, M. Dehghany, M.D. Davidson, L. Laforest, B.C.H. Cheung, Y. Zhang, M. Wu, V. Shenoy, L. Han, R.L. Mauck, J.A. Burdick, Microinterfaces in Biopolymer-based Biocontinuous Hydrogels Guide Rapid 3D Cell Migration, Nature Communications, 15:2766, 2024.
  • S.J. Heo, S. Thakur, X. Chen, C. Loebel, B. Xia, R. McBeath, J.A. Burdick, V.B. Shenoy, R.L. Mauck, M. Lakadamyali, Aberrant Chromatin Reorganization in Cells from Diseased Fibrous Connective Tissue in Response to Altered Chemomechanical Cues, Nature Biomedical Engineering, 7:177-191, 2023.
  • A.P. Dhand, M.D. Davidson, J.H. Galarraga, T.H. Qazi, R.C. Locke, R.L. Mauck, J.A. Burdick, Simultaneous One-pot Interpenetrating Network Formation to Expand 3D Processing Capabilities, Advanced Materials, 34:2202261 (2022).
  • T.H. Qazi, J. Wu, V.G. Muir, S. Weintraub, S. Gullbrand, D. Lee, D. Issadore, J.A. Burdick, Anisotropic Rod-shaped Particles Influence Injectable Granular Hydrogel Properties and Cell Invasion, Advanced Materials, 34:2109194 (2022).
  • A.C. Daly, M.E. Prendergast, A.J. Hughes,J.A. Burdick, Bioprinting for the Biologist, Cell, 184:18-32 (2021).
  • A.C. Daly, M.D. Davidson, J.A. Burdick, 3D Printing of High Cell-Density Heterogenous Tissue Models through Spheroid Fusion within Self-Healing Hydrogels, Nature Communications, 12:753 (2021).
  • A.C. Daly, L.A. Riley, T. Segura, J.A. Burdick, Hydrogel Microparticles for Biomedical Applications, Nature Reviews Materials, 5:20-43 (2020).
  • C.B. Highley, K.H. Song, A.C. Daly, J.A. Burdick, Jammed Microgel Inks for 3D Printing Applications, Advanced Science, 6:1801076 (2019).
  • C. Loebel, R.L. Mauck, J.A. Burdick, Local Nascent Protein Deposition and Remodeling Guide Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Mechanosensing and Fate in Three-dimensional Hydrogels, Nature Materials, 18:883-891 (2019).
  • S.L. Vega, M.Y. Kwon, K.H. Song, C. Wang, R.L. Mauck, L. Han, J.A. Burdick, Combinatorial Hydrogels with Biochemical Gradients for Screening 3D Cellular Microenvironments, Nature Communications, 9:614 (2018).
  • J.E. Mealy, J.J. Chung, H.H. Jeong, D. Issadore, D. Lee, P. Atluri, J.A. Burdick, Injectable Granular Hydrogels with Multifunctional Properties for Biomedical Applications, Advanced Materials, 30:1705912 (2018).
  • K.H. Song, C.B. Highley, A. Rouff, J.A. Burdick, Complex 3D-printed Microchannels within Cell-degradable Hydrogels, Advanced Functional Materials, 28:1801331 (2018).
  • L.L. Wang, Y. Liu, J.J. Chung, T. Wang, A.C. Gaffey, M. Lu, C.A. Cavanaugh, S. Zhou, R. Kanade, P. Atluri, E.E. Morrisey, J.A. Burdick, Sustained miRNA Delivery from an Injectable Hydrogel Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Functional Regeneration after Ischaemic Injury, Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1:983-992 (2017).
  • S.R. Caliari and J.A. Burdick, A Practical Guide to Hydrogels for Cell Culture, Nature Methods, 13:405-414 (2016).
  • R.J. Wade, E.J. Bassin, C.B. Rodell, J.A. Burdick, Protease Degradable Electrospun Fibrous Hydrogels, Nature Communications, 6:6639 (2015).
  • C.B. Highley, C.B. Rodell, J.A. Burdick, Direct 3D Printing of Shear-thinning Hydrogels into Self-healing Hydrogels, Advanced Materials, 27:5075-5079 (2015).
  • B.M. Baker, B. Trappmann, W.Y. Wang, M.S. Sakar, I.L. Kim, V.B. Shenoy, J.A. Burdick, C.S. Chen, Cell-Mediated Fiber Recruitment Drives Extracellular Matrix Mechanosensing in Engineered Fibrillar Microenvironments, Nature Materials, 14:1262-1268 (2015).
  • B.P. Purcell, D. Lobb, M.B. Charati, S.M. Dorsey, R.J. Wade, K.N. Zellars, H. Doviak, S. Pettaway, C.B. Logdon, J.A. Shuman, C. Novak, J.H. Gorman, R.C. Gorman, F.G. Spinale, J.A. Burdick, Injectable and Bioresponsive Hydrogels for On-Demand Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibition, Nature Materials, 13:653-661 (2014).
  • S. Khetan, M. Guvendiren, W.R. Legant, D.M. Cohen, C.S. Chen, J.A. Burdick, Degradation-mediated Cellular Traction Directs Stem Cell Fate in Covalently Crosslinked Three-dimensional Hydrogels, Nature Materials, 12:458-465 (2013).

Research Interests

Jason Burdick and his Biomaterials and Biofabrication Laboratory design new biomaterials that can be processed through fabrication methodologies to meet the needs of medicine, ranging from translational therapeutics to tissue models. Based in fundamental materials science, the group synthesizes cytocompatible and cell-instructive biomaterials, often from biopolymers (e.g., hyaluronic acid) that are crosslinked into water-swollen hydrogels and biodegradable elastomers. Many of the biomaterials are designed to be shear-thinning and self-healing through the incorporation of dynamic and reversible interactions of polymers or microparticles. Biomaterials from the group are processed with a range of techniques, including electrospinning, microfluidics, and 3D printing (e.g., extrusion printing, stereolithography) to control their structure and subsequent function across applications. The field of biofabrication is growing rapidly and the Burdick Laboratory is designing new materials and processing methods to meet challenges within the field.

Recent applications of work from the group include: (i) injectable hydrogels to treat myocardial tissue after myocardial infarction to limit adverse tissue remodeling; (ii) bioprinting of tissue models (e.g., cardiac) for the screening of therapeutics; (iii) fibrous scaffolds for fibrocartilage tissue repair (e.g., meniscus) and as models of fibrosis; and (iv) hydrogels to improve cartilage repair through therapeutic delivery to the joint or to promote adult stem cell chondrogenesis.  Common across all of these examples is the innovative design of new materials to meet specific criteria (e.g., degradation, mechanics, cell-interactions) for the intended biomedical application.