Bioengineering Seminar Series: Thomas Dziubla

Friday, March 4, 2016
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Pepco Room (1105), Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Dr. Silvia Muro
muro@umd.edu

Dr. Thomas Dziubla
Gill Associate Professor
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
University of Kentucky

Biocompatibility or Toxicology? Oxidative Stress as a Focal Point of Nanomaterial Design

Of the weapons employed by the body’s defense mechanisms, oxidative stress appears to be the most ubiquitous, non-specific, and damaging. When oxidative mechanisms have been induced (e.g., the leukocyte respiratory burst), it can result in a degenerative cycle of chronic inflammation and cell death, which further stimulates the release of more harsh oxidants. However, under mild conditions, this oxidative stress stimulates tissue regeneration and cellular upregulation of protective mechanisms (e.g., ischemic preconditioning), improving the overall viability and prognosis of tissue health. A delicate balance of pro-oxidant and antioxidant mechanisms constitutively exist to ensure that only the beneficial effects are observed.  For nanomaterials, oxidative stress poses an especially troubling challenge to their biocompatibility. Indeed, no material is in all biological settings and situations 100% non-inflammatory, non-toxic, non-teratogenic, non-carcinogenic, non-thrombogenic, and non-immunogenic. Yet, while it is classically considered a mechanism of toxicity, regulation of oxidative stress can be a new tool by which we tune and widen the biocompatibility window of nanomaterials. Here we present some initial efforts in creating materials with inherent antioxidant capabilities to tune and control biocompatibility for the effect of controlling chronic inflammation.


About the Speaker

Dr. Thomas Dziubla, Ph.D. is the Associate Gill Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Kentucky.  He received his B.S. and Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University (1998) and Drexel University (2002), respectively. In 2002–2004,he was an NRSA postdoctoral fellow in the Institute for EnvironmentalMedicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Vladimir Muzykantov, where he worked on the design of degradablepolymeric nanocarriers for the delivery of antioxidants. His research group is interested in the design of new functional polymeric biomaterials which can actively control local cellular oxidative stress for improved biomaterial integration and disease treatment. He holds 8 patents, has authored over 50 peer reviewed publications and has started several companies that a re currently commercializing technologies that have originated from his laboratory.

 

 

Audience: Public 

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