Hosted by the College of Engineering and Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

Damage to nerve tissue can greatly diminish quality of life for those with traumatic injuries. Christine E. Schmidt's research focuses on natural-based biomaterials that interact with neurons to stimulate and guide regeneration. These biomaterials can ultimately be used for facial and hand reconstruction or in trauma cases and potentially could be used to aid the regeneration of damaged spinal cord as well. This presentation will focus first on peripheral nerve applications and one key success that is the foundation for the Avance Nerve Graft from Axogen (Alachua, FL). In addition, along the way to uncovering strategies for nerve regeneration, Schmidt and her team also discovered a biomaterial processing approach that led to a separate application of protecting tissues after surgery, resulting in VersaWrap from Alafair Biosciences, a start-up company in Austin, Texas. More recently, her team is engineering injectable biomaterials for spinal cord injury (SCI), particularly compressive injuries. In rat models, these materials have shown therapeutic potential for SCI and promise as delivery vehicles for cell transplantation therapies.