Speaker: Phillip B. Messersmith, Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering Departments, University of California, Berkeley. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA.
Title: Supramolecular Polymer Prodrugs for Drug-Induced Tissue Regeneration
Abstract: While amphibians regenerate lost appendages spontaneously, mammals generally scar over the injury site via wound repair. Inspired by the spontaneous healing trait of amphibians, we are developing self-assembling polymer prodrugs for delivery of a HIF1a agonist. The polymers self-assemble into supramolecular nanostructures, driven by the hydrophobic nature of the conjugated drug. Subcutaneous injection of drug-hydrogel resulted in enhanced regenerative wound healing in non-regenerative mice, in a manner that emulates the basic elements of amphibian regeneration. These approaches offer new opportunities for delivery of tissue regenerative therapeutic drugs.
Bio: Phillip B. Messersmith is the Class of 1941 Professor in the Departments of Bioengineering and Materials Science and Engineering at UC-Berkeley. He earned his B.S. degree in life sciences in 1985 from the University of Illinois at Urbana, M.S degree in bioengineering from Clemson University, and his Ph.D. degree in materials science and engineering in 1993 from the University of Illinois at Urbana. Previously, Dr. Messersmith was a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University (1993-1994), and a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1994-1997) and Northwestern University (1997-2014). Dr. Messersmith has published over 200 papers and has 42 patents. His awards and honors include a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health, the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society, and the 2013 Clemson Award for Basic Research from the Society for Biomaterials. Dr. Messersmith is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the International Union of Societies of Biomaterials Science and Engineering. The Messersmith research group is interested in understanding structure-processing-property relationships of materials in biological systems, and in using this information to inform the design, synthesis and application of biologically inspired synthetic materials used in a variety of practical applications.