CAREER: Photocrosslinkable Polymers for Fracture Fixation

9734236 Anseth通过固定治疗骨折需要使用具有足够强度的材料，以允许固定，良好的组织/材料相容性，以及易于成型（形成潜在的复杂形状），便于外科医生放置。 此外，受控降解对于在愈合后恢复最佳骨功能至关重要。 材料必须首先重建骨的机械完整性，随后降解以允许新骨长入。 因此，可降解聚合物材料为广泛使用的金属植入物提供了重要的替代品。 可降解聚合物消除了第二次手术的需要，如果精心设计，可以释放化合物来加速愈合或预防感染。 该职业计划的研究部分旨在开发一种新型的高强度、表面侵蚀、光固化（即，在暴露于光时反应）聚合物用于矫形应用如骨折固定。 特别是，这项工作的基本原理是由三个关键假设驱动的：i）光聚合允许体内固化，这将为外科医生放置和处理可植入聚合物提供很大的灵活性; ii）聚合物的交联将提供控制材料的物理和机械性能而不对主链化学进行重大改变的有效工具，其可以改变生物相容性;和iii）以受控方式降解并保持聚合物的结构完整性的表面侵蚀聚酸酐网络对于整形外科应用是有利的。 本职业计划的教育部分与研究计划密切相关。 本科生研究的特殊机会（例如，高级论文项目），并将面向团队的研究项目纳入高级选修课程。 除了通过研究进行教育外，还将开发新的课程，以研究人体的工程学方面，并利用工程技术解决医疗问题。 最后，科罗拉多大学完成了其综合教学实验室（ITLL）。 该设施是工程教育未来方向的国家模型，综合学习方法（解决学习风格和跨部门团队合作）将被纳入新的聚合物课程并进行试点。 ***

9734236 Anseth Treatment of bone fractures through fixation requires the use of materials with sufficient strength to allow fixation, good tissue/material compatibility, and facile molding (into potentially complex shapes) for easy placement by the surgeon. In addition, controlled degradation is imperative to restore optimum bone function upon healing. The material must initially re-establish the mechanical integrity of the bone and subsequently degrade to allow new bone ingrowth. Hence, degradable polymeric materials provide an important alternative to widely-used metallic implants. Degradable polymers eliminate the need for a second surgery and, if carefully designed, can release compounds to accelerate healing or prevent infections. The research component of this CAREER plan targets the development of a new class of high-strength, surface-eroding, photocurable (i.e., react upon exposure to light) polymers for orthopaedic applications such as fracture fixation. In particular, the rationale for this work is driven by three key hypotheses: i) photopolymerization allows in vivo curing, which will provide great flexibility for the placement and handling of implantable polymers for surgeons; ii) crosslinking of polymers will provide an effective tool to control the physical and mechanical properties of materials without major modifications to the backbone chemistry, which can alter biocompatibility; and iii) surface-eroding polyanhydrides networks, which degrade in a controlled fashion and maintain the structural integrity of the polymer, will be advantageous for orthopaedic applications. The educational component of this CAREER plan is intimately linked with the research plan. Special opportunities for undergraduate research (e.g., senior thesis projects) and incorporation of team-oriented research projects in advanced elective courses will be developed. Outside of education through research, new courses will be developed to examine engineering aspects o f the human body and the use of engineering skills to address medical problems. Finally, the University of Colorado has completed its Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory (ITLL). This facility is a national model for future directions in engineering education, and the integrated learning approach (addressing learning styles and cross-departmental teamwork) will be incorporated and piloted in a new polymer courses. ***