Prof. Yi Li Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Horn, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
With the increasing of aging population in the world, healthcare and biomedical functions of textiles become more and more important. To meet the increasing demand in the society, textile biomedical engineering (TBE) aims to develop a holistic and integrative approach of designing and engineering devices to meet the biomedical and healthcare needs by providing various functions such as drug delivery, tissue engineering and artificial implants, temperature and pressure therapy, bioelectric/magnetic detection and stimulation for the health and recovery of human body. TBE is experimental in nature and needs extensive multi-disciplinary collaborations among the experts in medical professionals, physiologists and designers, scientists and engineers in textile and clothing industry. Design and engineer of textiles for biomedical applications involve the integration of the fundamental research in physical, chemical, mathematical, and computational sciences with the development of engineering principles with sound understanding on the relationship between clothing and human biology, medicine, behavior and health. Fundamental concepts need to be advanced together with creating new knowledge from molecules to body-textile systems, and developing innovative materials, devices, and apparel products for healthy lifestyles with the functions of comfort, protection, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and healthcare. A systematic, quantitative and integrative way needs being adopted for approaching the solutions of how clothing and textiles can be engineered to the benefits of biology, physiology, medicine, behavior and health of human populations. This paper reviews the theoretical foundations for biomedical engineering design of textiles.
Prof. Yi Li
About Prof. Yi Li
Dr. Yi Li is a full professor and director of Textile Bioengineering Research Center in the Institute of Textiles and Clothing, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is a Fellow of the Textile Institute, Life Fellows of International Biographical Association and the Royal Society of Art, Commerce and Manufacturing, and adjunct professors of a number of universities in China and a member of several professional bodies. He is the Chairman of Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Society and the Editor-in-Chief of “Journal of Fiber Bioengineering and Informatics”.
He established the Textile Bioengi-neering Research Center (TBRC for short) as an international platform of textile bioengineering to promote industry-university cooperation and accelerate technology transfer. TBRC is composed of 6 research laboratories: Textile Biomaterial Research Laboratory, Textile Biomaterial Testing Research Lab, Digital Apparel Laboratory, Functional Design Studio, Ecological and Carbon Footprint Research Laboratory and Industry Sustainability Research Laboratory.
TBRC has over 500 scientific publications and more than 76 patents, including 33 patents granted in China, USA and Australia and 18 patents transferred to industry.
With more than 43 awards on research papers, patent inventions and technology transfer, including a China National Invention Award (2nd class), the inventions from Prof. LI Yi’s team have been successfully commercialized and sold to more 18 countries and developed as the national testing standards in USA and China (the “Moisture Management Tester”) and become the authorized product by Hong Kong Hospital Authority (the “Nano Facemasks”).
