HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Stevens Institute of Technology Professor Xiaojun Yu, Ph.D., has received an Early Career Translational Research Award in Biomedical Engineering from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. This award will support his research titled, “Novel structured nanofibrous scaffolds for bone healing.”
Yu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biomedical and Materials Engineering at Stevens’ Schaefer School of Engineering and Science, is focusing his research on the treatment of bone injury in hard tissue trauma. This type of trauma creates large gaps in the bone tissue, requiring a bone grafting procedure as treatment. It has been found that polymeric nanofiber matrices have the potential to be used as bone grafts; however, due to manufacturing techniques there is restriction in the fabrication of nanofibers into complex three-dimensional (3D) structures necessary for effective treatment, resulting in mechanical properties that are not sufficient for direct bone tissue engineering applications.
Yu has proposed a way to overcome this challenge by incorporating nanofibers onto biodegradable polymeric 3D scaffolds – which have optimal porosity due to its open geometrics and large surface area – permitting the necessary nutrient transport and cell penetration into the scaffold for successful repair of large bone defects. As a result, biodegradable polymeric 3D scaffolds can provide sufficient mechanical properties and eventually be applied universally in the treatment of bone injuries.
Yu, principal investigator for the research, is working in conjunction with Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., University Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia, and Michelle Kofron, Ph.D., recent doctoral graduate of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia.
The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation’s Early Career Awards program supports funding for Assistant Professors in the field of Biomedical Engineering working in North America. For more information on this program, visit http://www.whcf.org/WHCF_EarlyCareerAward.htm.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value. Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 1,850 undergraduate and 2,980 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with a full-time faculty of 140. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu. For the latest news about Stevens, please visit www.StevensNewsService.com.