People

Research Interests

Biomaterials, tissue engineering, drug delivery, macromolecular chemistry and engineering, self-assembly, nanodevices

Current Research

My group pursues highly interdisciplinary research in the areas of biomedical engineering and macromolecular chemistry. The major goal in these research projects is to elucidate the underlying fundamental chemistry and engineering principles and to use that insight to direct our creative and scientific efforts. In one of our current research projects, we are designing, synthesizing, and characterizing novel dendrimers, termed “biodendrimers,” for tissue engineering and biotechnological applications. Currently, we are evaluating these novel biomaterials for the repair of corneal lacerations, for the delivery of anti-cancer drugs, for the delivery of DNA, and as temporary biodegradable scaffolds for cartilage repair. In a second project, we are creating novel polymeric coatings termed “interfacial biomaterials” that control biology on plastic, metal, and ceramic surfaces. In a third project, we are designing electrochemical-based sensors/devices using conducting polymer nanostructures and specific DNA structural motifs.

Selected Recent Publications

William C. Ray III, Mark W. Grinstaff "Polycarbonate and Polycarbonate-esters Synthesized from Biocompatible Building Blocks of Glycerol and Lactic Acid" Macromolecules 36: 3557-3562 (2003)

Daijiro Miki, Anne Pfister-Serres, Kourosh A. Dastghieb, Kimberly A. Smeds, Makoto Inoue, Diane L. Hatchell, Mark W. Grinstaff "A Photopolymerized Sealant for Corneal Lacerations" Cornea 21: 393-399 (2002)

Michael A. Carnahan, Crystan Middleton, Jitek Kim, Terry Kim, Mark W. Grinstaff "Hybrid Dendritic-Linear Polyester-ethers for In Situ Photopolymerization" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124: 5291-5293 (2002)

Geoffrey S. Hird, Thomas J. McIntosh, Anthony A. Ribeiro, Mark W. Grinstaff "Synthesis and Characterization of Carbohydrate-Based Phospholipids" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124: 5983-5992 (2002)

Mark W. Grinstaff "Biodendrimers: New Polymeric Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering" Chem. Eur. J. 8: 2838-2846 (2002)