| Biomaterials
Biomaterials
Loss of bone through trauma or disease can result in life threatening
complications. Repair of such defects is consequently critical
to the health and well-being of the patient. Complications associated
with allograft and autograft materials and the limited availability
of donor tissue have made synthetic materials attractive candidates
for bone defect repair.
The primary goal of our work on biomaterials is to to design
better synthetic bone substitute materials and systems to replace allograft
and autograft bone. To accomplish this we study (1) how cells
and tissue interact with or change their environment and how we
can characterize their behavior and (2) how drug delivery can
improve further the efficacy of the bone substitute material. We are currently studying
a ceramic (hydroxyapatite)
and a polymeric (gelatin) bone substitute. To aid
in understanding how the cells interact with the 3D, porous scaffolds
and how tissue is distributed within the scaffolds, we use a nondestructive
imaging technique called Micro-CT.
For the first time, we have also used Micro-CT
to image therapeutic proteins in
gelatin.
Current Projects:
Development of
chitosan scaffolds with bFGF loaded gelatin microspheres for the
treatment of chronic cutaneous
ulcers
(Graduate Student: CJ Park)
Evaluation of endothelial colony forming cells and adipose-derived stem
cells in an osteoinductive hydroxyapatite scaffold for bone tissue
engineering
(Graduate Student: Sheeny Lan)
Fabrication of model hydroxyapatite
scaffolds
(Graduate Student: Dave Hoelzle)
The
effects of strain gradients on bone cell response
(Graduate Student: Michael Poellmann)
Material characterization of hydroxyapatite/bone composite
scaffolds using Finite Element based homogenization methods
(Graduate Student: Lucas McIntosh)
Characterization of the elastic and failure properties of bulk hydroxyapatite with varying porosity
(Graduate Student: Jackie Cordell)
Recent Projects:
The effects of microporosity on the
strength, degradation, and damage mechanisms of hydroxyapatite/tissue
composites
(Graduate
Student: Joe Woodard)
Quantification of soft tissue on
hydroxyapatite scaffolds using Micro-CT
(Graduate Student: Amanda Hilldore)
Biomaterials
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