Achievement

Trainee Ian Gaudet has designed a novel photo-active collagen-based biomaterial for use in tissue engineering, which can be modified in situ to create customizable regenerative niches. The modified collagen is modified to provide reactive groups for UV-generated free radicals. Ian has shown that these reactive groups can autocrosslink to dramatically increase the stiffness of the gel post self-assembly and improve degradation properties, or can be used to add functional ligands, all in the manner of minutes. Both aspects can be controlled spatially to create complex, heterogeneous microenvironments, and the whole process is highly compatible with mesenchymal stem cells. Ian was invited to present his findings at the 2010 New Jersey Stem Cell Symposium and the 2011 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference in Farmington, PA. A provisional patent for the use of the photoactive collagen, was filed through the Rutgers Office of Technology and Commercialization in May.