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Attaway
Baillieul
Barouch
Basu
Belta
Bifano
Bulkeley
Caramanis
Cassandras
Cole
de Winter
Ebner
Gevelber
Gopalan
Hauser
Hazony
Hu
Ivanov
Klapperich
Lin
Lund
Pal
Paschalidis
Perkins
Sarin
Sharon
Vakili
Zhang
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Areas of Interest:
Nanomechanics of Hydrated Biomaterials Implants, tissue engineering scaffold materials, drug delivery and bio-micro electromechanical systems (BioMEMs) all use polymer or hydrogel materials. These applications require both mechanical performance and successful integration of the material into a biological environment. Mechanical strength, storage and loss moduli, wear resistance, surface adhesion properties and surface chemical composition are all critical in biomedical device design and can be determined using nanoindentation. The difficulty of obtaining large samples of specialized materials and the complexity of testing soft materials in traditional materials testing apparatus, make nanoindentation an attractive alternative.
Gene Expression in Cells at the Cell-Biomaterial Interface Living cells are capable of performing complex functions and chemistries that are difficult or impossible to carry out by synthetic means. Thus, the integration of cells or cell components capable of performing these functions into a synthetic device environment is a major frontier in the design of microscale and nanoscale systems. A critical concern in this endeavor is that the cells retain their normal functions or can acquire additional desired functions, when incorporated into these devices. We are studying the molecular interactions of cells and inorganic materials to develop concepts for the fabrication of future cell/synthetic hybrid devices. Microarray technology (only widely accessible in the last 5 years) allows us to study several measures of the ÒhealthÓ and performance of cells living in a synthetic environment outside of the body. For example, by controlling the chemical (liquid) and material (solid) environment surrounding a cell, one can exert control over what products a cell will make. Some of these products can be subsequently secreted by the cell and harvested for other uses. Other environments could cause cell death. Understanding the molecular interactions between a cell and its non-living environment will allow us to more appropriately design the surfaces of materials for use in future hybrid devices.
Microfluidic Device Design Biological separations and diagnostic assays typically require the use of a wide araay of large and costly lab equipment. Our work is aimed at designing and manufacturing polymer based microfluidic devices that perform these processes using less raw material at a fraction of the cost. Working with colleagues in the Manufacturing Engineering Department at BU, we hope to integrate BioMEMs devices into polymer based microfluidic platforms in order to enhance their functionality.
Selected Recent Publications:
C.M. Klapperich, K. Komvopoulos, L. PruittÊÊ"Nanooindentation Experiments to Probe the Surface Mechanical Properties of Plasma Treated Polyethylenes" Journal of Materials Research : 01.17 (2) (2002)
Klapperich, C., Komvopoulos, K., Pruitt, L.ÊÊ"Nanomechanical Properties of Polymers Determined From Nanoindentation Experiments" Journal of Tribology, ASME Trans. Vol. 123, No. 3: 624-631 (2001)
Klapperich, C., Pruitt, L., Komvopoulos, K.ÊÊ"Chemical and Biological Characteristics of Low-Temperature Plasma Treated Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene for Biomedical Applications" Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine Vol. 12, No.6: 549-556 (2001)
Niedzwiecki, S., Klapperich, C., Short, J., Jani, S., Ries, M. , Proitt, L.ÊÊ"Comparison of three joint simulator wear debris isolation techniques: acid digestion, base digestion, and enzyme cleavage" Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 56(2) : 245-9 (2001)
C.M. Klapperich, S. Niedzwiecki, M. Ries, L. PruittÊÊ"Fluid Sorption of Orthopedic Grade Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene in a Serum Environment is Affected by the surface Area and Sterilization Method" Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 53: 73-75 (2000)
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