Vascular Graft Tissue Research Featured in Synthecon

ECM Fibril BundlesDr. Xing and Zhao et al. of Michigan Tech University have published a paper entitled: “Aligned Nanofibrous Cell-Derived Extracellular Matrix for Anisotropic Vascular Graft Construction”

The research group was successful in generating a vascular graft with biomimetic circumferential tensile strength and expression of smooth muscle cell specific genes over static culture.

In previous studies, fibroblast cells were used to create vascular grafts by wrapping a decellularized fibroblast seeded matrix sheet around a temporary mandrel into tubes.

Visit the Research Team’s Website

Read more in the article “VASCULAR GRAFT TISSUE ENGINEERING IN THE RCCS” in Synthecon.

Keat Ghee Ong Receives Funding for Bone Regeneration Research

Keat Ghee Ong
Keat Ghee Ong

Keat Ghee Ong (Bio Med/LSTI), is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $467,660 research and development grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.

The project is titled “Mechanically Active Magnetoelastic System for Controlled Loading Environment to Promote Vascularized Bone Regeneration.” This is a three-year project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Researchers Attend 40th Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society

Annual Meeting Adhesion Society

Bruce Lee (Bio Med), Yuan Liu and Weilue He attended the 40th Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society Feb. 26 through March 1, 2017, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Lee chaired a session entitled “Bioadhesive Chemistry” and was elected vice chair of the Bioadhesion Division within the Adhesion Society. Lee will serve as the chair of the division in the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Adhesion Society in 2019.

Liu gave an oral presentation entitled “Moldable Nanocomposite PEG Hydrogel Formed by Mussel-Inspired Chemistry as Fit-to-Shape Sealant.”

He gave an oral presentation entitled “Development of a Novel Fibrin-polydopamine Adhesive Hydrogel for Marine Tracking and Wound Healing Applications,” a project directed by Rupak Rajachar (Bio Med).

Bruce P. Lee Publishes on a Model Polymer System

Bruce P Lee Catechol Graphic

Hao Meng, Yuan Liu and Bruce P. Lee have co-authored “Model Polymer System for Investigating the Generation of Hydrogen Peroxide and its Biological Responses during the Crosslinking of Mussel Adhesive Moiety” in Acta Biomaterialia.

To harvest the unique underwater adhesive properties of mussel adhesive proteins, scientists have designed various synthetic mimics of these proteins to create novel biomedical adhesives, drug carriers, and tissue engineering scaffolds.

The team designed a model system to systemically characterize the biocompatibility and biological responses associated with the byproduct (i.e., hydrogen peroxide) generated during the curing process of biomimetic adhesive moieties.

Hydrogen peroxide is an important biological molecule with multiple biological functions (i.e., wound healing, disinfectant, etc.). This is the first report to characterize the release of hydrogen peroxide during the curing process of the mussel adhesive moieties; however, the biocompatibility of these biomimetic materials have not been fully characterized.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2016.10.016

Bruce P. Lee Publishes on Mussel Adhesive Protein

Mussel Adhesive Applications

Bruce P. Lee and Pegah Kord Forooshani published “Recent Approaches in Designing Bioadhesive Materials Inspired by Mussel Adhesive Protein” in the Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry.

Mussels can bind to various wet surfaces, such as a ship hull or rock, through the secretion of adhesive proteins.

This paper reviews the remarkable underwater adhesion of these proteins, which have inspired many scientists to incorporate such unique chemistries into the design of a wide range of materials. The chemistry extents to biomaterials, such as adhesives, coatings, and therapeutic drug carriers, as well as to smart materials, like smart adhesives, actuators, and self-healing materials.

This is an invited and peer-reviewed review article which provides a comprehensive and updated information on how the adhesive proteins function and methods for using these designs to create new and improved functional materials.

DOI: 10.1002/pola.28368

Bruce Lee Team Publishes in Chemistry of Materials

Bruce Lee (Bio Med) and graduate student Ameya Narkar (Bio Med) coauthored the paper “pH Responsive and Oxidation Resistant Wet Adhesive based on Reversible Catechol-Boronate Complexation.” The paper was published in Chemistry of Materials. This paper was also coauthored by Tech alumni Brett Barker and Matthew Clisch, as well as Jingfeng Jiang (Bio Med).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b01851

From Tech Today.

Rapid Design of 3D Printed Casts

Subject Specific Wrist CastMaterialise, a corporate blog, published an article about 3-D printed orthopaedic casts designed by a team from Michigan Tech to conform to the individual needs of each patient’s fracture.

From Tech Today.

Could 3D Printing Provide an Alternative to Plaster Casts?

Anyone who has ever had a broken arm, sprained ankle or anything that requires wearing a cast undoubtedly remembers how uncomfortable it was. Sure, it was fun to get everyone’s signature on your arm or leg, but that didn’t make up for the itchiness, the rash and the difficulties involved when taking a shower. A bright team of engineers at Michigan Technological University thought there had to be a better solution, and came up with a lightweight, porous, 3D-printed alternative instead.

Dr. Jingfeng Jiang, leader of the project, commented: “The Lightweight Structures Module enabled us to rapidly design and create prototypes of these orthopaedic casts given any patient-specific wrist geometry. Furthermore, the software allowed us to export the virtual design directly to ANSYS for FEA analysis, so that we could make sure the model was strong enough to withstand different loading conditions.”

Read more at Materialise, by Stephanie Benoit.

Goldman Presents at From Lab to Marketplace

How do discoveries in university labs turn into commercially available—and potentially lifesaving—products?

This Wednesday, May 25, 2016, teams of Michigan Tech scientists and engineers will present their innovative technologies to a state funding review committee. The reviewers, officially designated an Oversight Committee, will be making decisions on grants from the Michigan Translational Research and Commercialization (MTRAC) program, a $6 million state-funded program developed and managed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to help commercialize university translational research.

An example of a team that will present on Wednesday afternoon is Professor Jarek Drelich (MSE) and Associate Professor Jeremy Goldman (BME). They are working on developing a metal alloy that would perform well as a biodegradable stent for heart surgery and other uses where a biodegradable material is desirable. They have been working for some time to find a material with all the necessary properties that will biodegrade harmlessly in the body over a set period of time.

Read more at Tech Today, by Jenn Donovan.