November 9: Dr. Megan C. Frost- Grain Processing Seminar Series in Chemical Engineering
Friday-November 9, 2012 at 10:00am
Fisher Hall, Room 139
Dr. Megan C. Frost, Assistant Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering at Michigan Technological University
Topic: Developing Nitric Oxide Releasing Polymers and Test Platform to Understand Cellular Response to Nitric Oxide
Polymeric materials used to coat or construct biomedical devices universally inspire a foreign body response when in contact with a biological system (e.g., thrombus formation on the polymer surface when in contact with blood, inflammatory response in subcutaneous tissue, etc.). Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly reactive free radical gas that has been shown to have a number positive of physiological functions at appropriate levels, including serving as a potent inhibitor of platelet adhesion and activation and mediating the inflammatory response. An NO-releasing silicone rubber coating was developed that contains a photosensitive S-nitrosothiol NO-donors that utilizes light as an external on/off trigger to initiate NO release. This material shows dynamically controllable NO release based on the duration and intensity of light irradiating the material and offers precise control of the level and duration of NO delivered at the tissue/polymer interface. We have also developed a test platform that allows quantitative levels of NO to be delivered to cells in vitro to further understanding of cellular response to NO.