Elastic Biodegradable Polymers: Design and Applications

Many tissues, such as heart muscle, blood vessel, and cartilage, exhibit high elasticity. The biomaterial is anticipated to be biocompatible and mimetic to the native tissue. Of the first important is mechanically mimetic, thus our lab is devoted to utilizing structure-properties-function relationship to develop elastic biomaterials for elastic tissue repair through molecular design and manufacturing. We have chemically designed synthetic robust and elastic polymers and hydrogels with varieties of functions. The polymers are based on urethane chemistry, and the hydrogel are developed in terms of double network mechanism. These elastic materials are biocompatible and can act as different matrixes for cell and tissue growth. These design strategies may provide hints to advance new generation of biomaterial development for basic and translation research.

Dr. Yi Hong is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Bioengineering Department at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). He achieved his PhD in Material Science and Engineering in 2005 at Zhejiang University. Before joining the UTA in 2012, Dr. Hong worked as a postdoc and later as a Research Assistant Professor in the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on developing functional and bioactive soft biomaterials and translational research for tissue repair and regeneration applications, especially for cardiovascular disease treatment, and women and children healthcare. He has published over 110 peer-review papers in the field of biomaterials and applied/issued 12 patents as well as over 170 conference abstracts. He received many awards, such as NSF CAREER award (2016), College of Engineering Outstanding Early Career Award (2018), Junior Investigator Award from BMES ABioM-SIG (2018), CAB Mid-CAREER Award (2020), College of Engineering Excellence in Research Award (2020), University’s Outstanding Research Award (2021), and AHA Established Investigator Award (2022). He was elected as a Fellow of American Heart Association (FAHA), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (FAIMBE) and Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), Biomedical Engineering Society (FBMES), and a Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors.