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Research




Dr Abby Whittington

 
 

My research interests focus on the use of natural polymers in the design of drug delivery systems and tissue engineering scaffolds. In the design of drug delivery systems, polymer degradation and drug release rates are important to proper delivery of various large and small molecules. Drug-carrier interactions are of interest to determine release mechanisms and provide protection to large molecule proteins from enzymatic degradation. For tissue engineering scaffolds, cell-polymer interactions will be probed to determine the effects of polymer surface chemistry, scaffold architecture, and graded chemistries on cell maturation, differentiation, and proliferation. Efficacy of tissue regeneration both in vitro and in vivo will be investigated.

 

Current Projects

  • Design and fabrication of albumin scaffolds
  • The use of proteins in drug delivery: as drug and as carrier
  • Preferential attachment of osteoblasts to bone tissue engineering scaffolds
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    Undergraduate Students


    Adwoa Baah-Dwomoh, BS
    Materials Science and Engineering

    Lindsay Hockinsmith, BS
    Materials Science and Engineering

    Akia Scruggs, BS
    Chemistry, Norfolk State University
    Summer Intern 2008

    Jason Simas, BS
    Chemical Engineering
    Tyler Horseman
    tylermh8@vt.edu

     

       

     

    Graduate Students


    Gabby Farrar, MS
    Materials Science and Engineering
    gfarrar@vt.edu

    Tyler Horseman, PhD
    Materials Science and Engineering