Biomaterials with multifaceted tunability and bio-specificity. Polyurethanes, a family of polymers with independently tunable mechanical and biodegradation properties, will be developed as a versatile platform material for biomedical implants. Novel energetic ion treatments that allow the coupling of bioactive agents to surfaces will eliminate adverse reactions and enable integration with surrounding tissue.
Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin. Elastin is the main protein responsible for the elasticity of vertebrate tissues. The Weiss Lab makes large quantities of full-length tropoelastin, which is crosslinked to make elastin. We want to examine the biochemistry of tropoelastin, learn how its domains participate in elastin structure and assembly, and explore cellular responses to our synthetic elastin biomaterial. Remarkably little is known of this biochemistry because elastin is a highly cross ....Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin. Elastin is the main protein responsible for the elasticity of vertebrate tissues. The Weiss Lab makes large quantities of full-length tropoelastin, which is crosslinked to make elastin. We want to examine the biochemistry of tropoelastin, learn how its domains participate in elastin structure and assembly, and explore cellular responses to our synthetic elastin biomaterial. Remarkably little is known of this biochemistry because elastin is a highly cross-linked and substantially insoluble macroscopic network of tropoelastin multimers. Our availability of tropoelastin and synthetic elastin now makes these studies possible.Read moreRead less