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MSE Seminar: “Bioinspired Polymers for Tissue Repair and Regeneration” (Phillip B. Messersmith University of California – Berkeley)
October 19, 2023 at 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
It is of great interest for materials scientists to study wet biological adhesives as inspiration for synthetic adhesives that can perform well in wet conditions. A compelling example is given by the adhesive proteins secreted by marine mussels, which have inspired the development of synthetic polymer adhesives and coatings for adhesion to wet surfaces. Mussel byssal proteins contain high levels of the amino acid 3,4-dihydroxy-L-alanine (DOPA), which has a catechol functional group that is believed to contribute to both the interfacial adhesive and bulk mechanical performance of the tissue. In this talk, I will review what is known about the function of DOPA in the mussel byssus and describe our ongoing efforts focused on exploiting catechol-containing polymers to solve practical problems in wet adhesion. Emphasis will be placed on bioinspired adhesives, hydrogels and coatings for tissue repair. Recently, we have begun to combine bioinspired tissue adhesives with a releasable pro-regenerative drug that pharmacologically upregulates the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) to enhance tissue regeneration in mammals. Our early in-vivo results suggest that combining bioinspired tissue adhesives with drug-induced regeneration can produce remarkable results in clinical situations where both tissue repair and regeneration are desired.
Phillip B. Messersmith
Class of 1941 Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering at UC-Berkeley.
Phillip B. Messersmith is the Class of 1941 Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering at UC-Berkeley. He is currently chair of the Department of Bioengineering. He earned his B.S. degree in life sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana, M.S degree in bioengineering from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana. Previously, Dr. Messersmith was a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University (1993-1994), and a faculty member at University of Illinois at Chicago (1994-1997) and Northwestern University (1997-2014). Dr. Messersmith has published over 220 papers and has 46 US patents awarded. His awards and honors include a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health, the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society, and the 2013 Clemson Award for Basic Research from the Society for Biomaterials. Dr. Messersmith is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Materials Research Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the International Union of Societies of Biomaterials Science and Engineering. His current research interests are centered on structure-processing-property relationships in biological and bioinspired materials, molecular phenomena at interfaces, bioinspired adhesives, and novel materials for regenerative medicine.