William Gramlich's Biography

William Gramlich, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Maine

Dr. Gramlich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Maine. He is also cooperating faculty at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and graduate faculty in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering at the University of Maine. In his laboratory, he combines his polymer chemistry, sustainable materials, and bioengineering backgrounds to create new sustainable and spatiotemporally modifiable hydrogel matrices. He received his Ph.D. (2012) and B.S. (2006) degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and the University of Maine, respectively.

Spatiotemporally Modifiable Hydrogels from Cellulose

Friday, 17 March 2017 at 12:30

Add to Calendar ▼2017-03-17 12:30:002017-03-17 13:30:00Europe/LondonSpatiotemporally Modifiable Hydrogels from CelluloseSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

Cellulose derivatives have long been used as hydrogel biomaterials due to their biocompatibility and wide availability, but these materials have traditionally had low modulus as the hydrogels are formed through physical entanglement. The limitations of physically crosslinked cellulose biomaterials have stymied their use in areas such as regenerative medicine and stem cell differentiation. Chemically crosslinked cellulose hydrogels alleviate these limitations, but require pendent reactive groups off cellulose, which typically necessitates using organic solvents to functionalize these molecules. In this work, cellulose derivatives such as carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) have been functionalized with pendent groups that allow for spatiotemporal modification of the hydrogel properties. Norbornene-functionalized CMC and CNF have been crosslinked through radical initiated thiol-ene click chemistry with a variety of dithiol crosslinkers. By selecting crosslinkers that are stimuli responsive, stimuli responsive cellulose hydrogels can be created. Using photopatterning and these stimuli responsive crosslinkers, hydrogels can be spatiotemporally modified in three-dimensions to introduce stimuli response in specific areas, affecting cell behavior.

Add to Calendar ▼2017-03-16 00:00:002017-03-17 00:00:00Europe/LondonBioMEMS, Microfluidics and Biofabrication: Technologies and ApplicationsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

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