The Right Fit, the Best Healing
Cranio-maxillofacial (CMF) defects (as well as other types bone defects) can result from traumatic injury, infection, tumor removal or congenital bone disease. The current gold standard to treat CMF bone defects is with autografts, but these suffer from limited availability, complex harvesting procedures as well as donor site morbidity and pain. A particular difficulty is shaping and fixing the rigid autograft tightly into the defect so as to prevent resorption. Tissue engineering represents a promising alternative to heal CMF bone defects.

What we are doing
A foam that shapes to fit into defects of any shape offers the potential for improved repair of bone defects. For this, “self-fitting” scaffolds based on inorganic-organic shape memory polymer (SMP) foams are being researched.
Publications on this research
Hydrolytic degradation of PCL-PLLA semi-IPNs exhibiting rapid, tunable degradation
Woodard, L.N.; Grunlan, M.A. “Hydrolytic degradation of PCL-PLLA semi-IPNs exhibiting rapid, tunable degradation,” ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., 2019, 5, 498-508.
View the ArticleHydrolytic degradation and erosion of polyester biomaterials
Woodard, L.N.; Grunlan, M.A.; “Hydrolytic degradation and erosion of polyester biomaterials,” ACS Macro Lett., 2018, 7, 976-982.
View the ArticlePorous poly(caprolactone)-poly(L-lactic acid) semi-interpenetrating networks as superior, defect-specific scaffolds with potential for cranial bone defect repair
Woodard, L.N.; Kmetz, K.T.; Roth, A.A.; Page, V.M.; Grunlan, M.A. “Porous poly(caprolactone)-poly(L-lactic acid) semi-interpenetrating networks as superior, defect-specific scaffolds with potential for cranial bone defect repair,” Biomacromolecules, 2017, 18, 4075-4083.
View the ArticlePCL-PLLA semi-IPN shape memory polymers (SMPs): Degradation and mechanical properties
Woodard, L.N.; Page, V.M.; Kmetz, K.T.; Grunlan, M.A.. “PCL-PLLA semi-IPN shape memory polymers (SMPs): Degradation and mechanical properties,” Macromol. Rapid Comm., 2016, 37, 1972-1977.
View the Articlevaluation of the osteoinductive capacity of polydopamine-coated poly(ε-caprolactone) diacrylate shape memory foams
Erndt-Marino, J.D.; Munoz-Pinto, D.J.; Samavedi, S.; Jimenez-Vergara, A.C.; Woodard, L.; Zhang, D.; Grunlan, M.A..; Hahn, M.S. “Evaluation of the osteoinductive capacity of polydopamine-coated poly(ε-caprolactone) diacrylate shape memory foams,” ACS Biomat. Sci. Eng., 2015, 1, 1220-1230.
View the ArticleFabrication of a bioactive, PCL-based ‘self-fitting’ shape memory polymer scaffold
Nail, L.N.; Zhang, D.; Reinhardt, J.; Grunlan, M.A.. “Fabrication of a bioactive, PCL-based ‘self-fitting’ shape memory polymer scaffold,” J. of Visualized Experiments (JOVE), 2015, 104, e52981.
View the ArticleA bioactive “self-fitting” shape memory polymer (SMP) scaffold with potential to treat cranio- maxillofacial (CMF) bone defects
Zhang, D.; George, O.J.; Petersen, K.M.; Jimenez-Vergara, A.C.; Hahn, M.S. Grunlan, M.A. “A bioactive “self-fitting” shape memory polymer (SMP) scaffold with potential to treat cranio-
maxillofacial (CMF) bone defects,” Acta Biomaterialia, 2014, 10, 4597-4605.
PDMS-PCL shape memory polymer (SMP) foams
Zhang, D.; Petersen, K.M.; Grunlan, M.A. “PDMS-PCL shape memory polymer (SMP) foams,” ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces. 2012, 5, 186-191.
View the ArticlePorous inorganic-organic shape memory polymers
Zhang, D.; Burkes, W.L.; Schoener, C.A.; Grunlan, M.A. “Porous inorganic-organic shape memory polymers,” Polymer 2012, 53, 2935-2941.
View the ArticlePolycaprolactone-based shape memory polymers with variable polydimethylsiloxane soft segments
Zhang, D.; Giese, M.L.; Prukop, S.L.; Grunlan, M.A. “Polycaprolactone-based shape memory polymers with variable polydimethylsiloxane soft segments,” J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem., 2010, 49, 754-761.
View the ArticleShape memory polymers with silicon-containing segments
Schoener, C.A.; Weyand, C.B.; Murthy, R.M.; Grunlan, M.A. “Shape memory polymers with silicon-containing segments,” J. Mater. Chem. 2010, 20, 1787-1793.
View the ArticleOops! We could not locate your form.