Strategic Collaborative Units

Director
Dr. Paul Santerre BIOMEDICAL POLYMERS
T
Coinvestigators/
Collaborators he Biomedical Polymer Science Laboratory is to improve health care is still a relatively young field
Dr. John Brash located in the Faculty of Dentistry. Being af- but is one that is experiencing rapid growth with
Dr. Laurie Burrows filiated with the Institute of Biomaterials and the advent of tissue regeneration. The demand
Dr. Hong Chen Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) at the University of for clinical devices that have controlled biostabil-
Dr. Dennis Cvitkovitch Toronto has allowed the group to foster collabora- ity or biodegradability shall remain an important
Dr. Yoav Finer tions between universities as well as industry in an aspect of this field for many years as combination
Dr. Rita Kandel inter-disciplinary environment. This encourages the products (drug + device) become introduced to the
Dr. Rosalind Labow promotion of new technologies with industry which market. The laboratory accommodates research by
Dr. Robert Pilliar in turn initiates growth of Canadian companies and graduate students (engineering, sciences, dentistry,
Dr. Craig Simmons interaction with international corporations. Under- medicine), research engineers and postdoctoral
Dr. Laura Tam standing the relationship between polymers and fellows. As well, up to 6 undergraduate and high
Dr. Kim Woodhouse bio-degradation processes will lead to advances in school co-op student projects are undertaken in this
the design of new materials for implants and medi- laboratory annually.
cal devices. The development of synthetic materials
Industry Partners
Jeannette Ho, IBI
Dr. Roseita Esfand, IBI
Dr. Frank LaRonde, IBI Current research activities include:
Dr. Richard Witmeyer, IBI
• developing biomaterials with
Research Associates/ surface modification techniques
PDFs for the incorporation of low
Dr. Meilin Yang surface energy fluorocarbon
Dr. Joanne McBane containing surface modifying and
bioactive agents
Research Assistants/ • tailoring the composition of
Technicians polyurethanes for studying
Kuihai Cai mechanisms of biodegradation
and modeling the biodegradation
Ph.D. Students processes of materials
Patrick Blit
Soroor Sharifpoor • study of key mechanisms involved
in saliva and bacteria interactions
▲Example of tissue engineering studies: Inter-vertebral disc
M.Sc. Students with Dental composites
The top two figures show images of electro-spun biodegradable polycarbonate-
Jatinderpreet Singh urethane fibre scaffolds arranged in random and aligned form. The fibre
Sara Khor • study of the biodegradation diameters are on the order of 100-700 nm in diameter. In the bottom two
Ekani Saxena of composites and bonding of images we are showing how the orientation of the scaffold fibres can direct
Masoud Yagageni restorative resins to teeth/mate- the alignment of annulus fibrosus cells from a vertebral disc, in order direct
rial interfaces tissue architecture. Both round and flat cells were seen by SEM on the random
Sanaz Kermanshahi
scaffolds on day 7 culture, while cells grown on the aligned scaffolds are
Jane Cheung elongated in the direction of fibers.
• use of degradable polymers with
Yi Guo
porous calcium polyphosphates
Marla MacCaulay
for soft connective tissue-to-bone Statistics for ‘Biomedical Polymers’
Menat Attia
attachment. Degradable polymers
for orthopaedic tissue regenera- 2007 To date
Undergraduates tion applications. Patents
Alice Wu 6 29
Mellisa Milligan • analysis of material blood Peer Reviewed
Kyle Battiston 10 116
compatibility by protein adsorp- Publications
tion, enzyme assays and platelet Funding $724,000 $13.1 million
adhesion
PDFs 3 4
• development of antimicrobial Ph.D. Students 3 10
materials for implantable medical MSc. Students 6 29
devices
Undergradute
3 74
• development of biodegradable students
vascular graft materials High school
0 12
Students