Cato Laurencin, MD, PhD

University Professor, Lillian T. Pratt Distinguished Professor and Chair of Orthopaedic Surgery

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Professor of Chemical Engineering

ctl3f@virginia.edu

Laboratory web site

Research Interests

The advent of biodegradable biomaterials facilitates the advancement of two promising therapies: Tissue Engineering and Controlled Drug Delivery. Tissue engineering has emerged as a practical strategy to regenerate damaged tissue or organ using biomaterials, cells and factors alone or in combination. Controlling the rate of drug delivery in vivo using biomaterials can lead to effective therapies with increased patient compliance. Our laboratory uses a highly interdisciplinary approach primarily focused on addressing musculoskeletal diseases and conditions using these two therapeutic strategies.

One of the focuses of our research is to develop novel materials as candidates for transient medical applications: specifically musculoskeletal tissue engineering and controlled drug delivery. Currently in our laboratory we are developing novel biodegradable polymers such as polyanhydrides and polyphosphazenes with highly controlled properties for transient applications. Composites of biodegradable polymers with nano or micro ceramic particulates are also being investigated.

Nanotechnology forms another area of our research wherein nano-structured biomaterials are being engineered for tissue engineering and controlled drug delivery applications. Three dimensional porous interconnected structures are engineered from these biodegradable polymers or composites as scaffolds for tissue engineering using nano and micro fabrication techniques such as sintered microsphere fabrication, three dimensional braiding and electrospinning. Various quantitative in vitro techniques and in vivo animal models are currently used to evaluate the efficacy of the developed biomaterials. In addition to biomaterials research, we also investigate static and dynamic cell culture conditions using ‘Rotating Bioreactors’ for in vitro tissue regeneration. These studies are aimed at gaining new insights into the effect of culture conditions and matrix properties on tissue regeneration.

Controlled localized delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs or growth factors using nano or micro fabricated biodegradable carrier vehicles form another current area of research. We are developing a synergistic approach of radiation therapy/chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of Ewing’s Sarcoma and Prostate Cancer. Current projects are also focused on developing bioactive scaffolds for accelerated tissue regeneration and wound healing by the localized delivery of bioactive molecules or by gene therapeutic techniques.

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