Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/20/2012
11:45 am - 12:35 pm

Biodegradable polymers have significant potential in various fields of bioengineering and biotechnology. In particular, biodegradable polymers with elastomeric properties have recently received attention for their potential use in the engineering of soft tissues. Although a number of biodegradable elastomers have been developed, most of them are not appropriate for soft tissue engineering or other biomedical uses. Towards that end, my presentation will discuss the need for improved biodegradable polymers in the vascular arena and will detail the development of a novel family of elastomeric polymers referred to a poly(diol citrates). Furthermore, my ongoing work at VesselTek Biomedical, a medical device start-up I cofounded to develop drug eluting vascular grafts and perivascular wraps based on these polymers will be discussed.