Category: News

Rupak Rajachar (Bio Med) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $23,000 research and development grant from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The project is “Developing a Biocompatible Large Whale Tracking Tag.”

This is a 15-month project.

By Sponsored Programs.

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 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 (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.

Feng Zhao (Bio Med) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $465,000 research and development grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-National Institutes of Health.

Jeremy Goldman (Bio Med) is the Co-PI on the project “Therapeutic Lymphatic Vessel Regeneration.” This is a three-year project.

From Tech Today.

Bruce Lee (Bio Med/LSTI) is the principal investigator on a project that received a $294,960 research grant from U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Naval Research. The project is entitled “Smart, Moisture-Resistant Adhesive Inspired by Marine Chemistry.”

This is the first year of a potential three-year project that could total $517,588.

From Tech Today.