My research interests focus on the use of natural polymers in the design of drug delivery systems and tissue engineering scaffolds. In the design of drug delivery systems, polymer degradation and drug release rates are important to proper delivery of various large and small molecules. Drug-carrier interactions are of interest to determine release mechanisms and provide protection to large molecule proteins from enzymatic degradation. For tissue engineering scaffolds, cell-polymer interactions will be probed to determine the effects of polymer surface chemistry, scaffold architecture, and graded chemistries on cell maturation, differentiation, and proliferation. Efficacy of tissue regeneration both in vitro and in vivo will be investigated.
Current Projects
- Design and fabrication of albumin scaffolds
- The use of proteins in drug delivery: as drug and as carrier
- Preferential attachment of osteoblasts to bone tissue engineering scaffolds
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Undergraduate Students
Adwoa Baah-Dwomoh, BS
Materials Science and Engineering
Lindsay Hockinsmith, BS
Materials Science and Engineering
Akia Scruggs, BS
Chemistry, Norfolk State University
Summer Intern 2008
Jason Simas, BS
Chemical Engineering
Tyler Horseman
tylermh8@vt.edu
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Graduate Students
Gabby Farrar, MS
Materials Science and Engineering
gfarrar@vt.edu
Tyler Horseman, PhD
Materials Science and Engineering
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