• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
ACCELERATING INNOVATION
Texas A&M College of Engineering Twitter hashtag #NewZachry Instagram hashtag #NewZachry College of Engineering Facebook College of Engineering LinkedIn
Texas A&M Engineering Special Issue

Texas A&M Engineer

engineering research magazine special edition

  • Contents
  • Credits
  • Who We Are
  • Partner with Us

Building a scaffold to heal bone defects

Dr. Melissa Grunlan is developing and testing a new shape-shifting foam designed to precisely fill and promote healing of bone defects.

You are here: Home / Biomedical Engineering / Building a scaffold to heal bone defects

Department of Biomedical Engineering

People with cranial bone defects due to injury, birth defects or surgery have traditionally been treated with bone grafts, which cannot be easily manipulated to fit within irregularly shaped defects. Without proper fit and good contact with neighboring bone tissue, defect healing is compromised.

Dr. Melissa Grunlan recently received $1.9 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue developing and testing a new shape-shifting foam designed to precisely fill and promote healing of defects.

Dr. Melissa Grunlan and team in lab
Dr. Melissa Grunlan’s shape-shifting foam acts as a scaffold to support bone healing.

“Bone defects can cause tremendous functional problems and aesthetic issues for individuals, so it was recognized that a better treatment would make a big impact,” says Grunlan.

The new material acts as a scaffold that temporarily supports bone healing and then dissolves, leaving behind a healed defect. It becomes malleable when exposed to warm saline, allowing it to be press-fitted and perfectly conform into the bone defect before it becomes rigid.


Melissa Grunlan

Featured Researcher: Dr. Melissa Grunlan

Department: Biomedical Engineering
Title: Presidential Impact Fellow; Holder of the Charles H. and Bettye Barclay Professorship in Engineering; Professor

Email: mgrunlan@tamu.edu
Phone: 979.845.2406
Website: grunlanlab.tamu.edu

Footer

Texas A&M College of Engineering

Learn More

College of Engineering

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)

Texas A&M University

Copyright © 2023 · Texas A&M University College of Engineering · All Rights Reserved

State of Texas • Texas Homeland Security • Open Records • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline • Statewide Search • Texas CREWS • Site Links & Policies • Environmental Health, Safety & Security • Employment