Location: Woolsey Hall, Room 134

Time: Lecture from 2 to 3 p.m., followed by refreshments and networking from 3 to 3:30 p.m.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Emi Kiyotake, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oklahoma

Attendees: All Wichita State University students, staff, faculty, alumni and industry partners are invited to attend. 

Refreshments: Light refreshments will be served.

Abstract: Clinical cartilage and spinal cord injuries (SCIs) are irregular in shape and size, and typical biomaterials are prefabricated scaffolds that may not fit within the injury. Hydrogels are a promising biomaterial because they can be synthesized to have injectable precursors (i.e., the solution before crosslinking) that may conform to the shape of an injury, and to have biocompatible in situ crosslinking to enhance retention in the injury. We used a pentenoate functionalization on hyaluronic acid, gelatin, or solubilized cartilage matrix to synthesize a variety of hydrogels for cartilage or spinal cord repair. The pentenoate functionalization allows for fast UV-initiated hydrogel crosslinking (i.e., 2-8 min), and the hydrogel precursors are fabricated to have a paste-like precursor consistency for better material retention prior to crosslinking. The paste-like consistency of the precursors allows for easier surgical delivery for treating osteochondral defects and SCIs. For treating osteochondral defects in rabbits, we fabricated and evaluated pentenoate-functionalized, solubilized devitalized cartilage (PSDVC) hydrogels with high stiffnesses in the range of native cartilage. For treating hemi-section SCIs in rats, we fabricated pentenoate functionalized hyaluronic acid (PHA) with pentenoate functionalized-gelatin (PGel) and graphene nanoribbons (GNs) for pairing with electrical stimulation.

Speaker Biography: Dr. Emi Kiyotake is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. She works in the research group of Dr. Michael Detamore, and her research focuses on the development of biomaterials for cartilage and spinal cord repair. Dr. Kiyotake has a B.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.