Yu receives research funding from the Wallace H. Coulter ...( HOBOKEN N.J. -- Stevens Institute of...)

HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Stevens Institute of Technology Professor Xiaojun Yu, Ph.D., has received an Early Career Translational Research Award in Biomedical Engineering from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. This award will support his research titled, Novel structured nanofibrous scaffolds for bone healing.

Yu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biomedical and Materials Engineering at Stevens Schaefer School of Engineering and Science, is focusing his research on the treatment of bone injury in hard tissue trauma. This type of trauma creates large gaps in the bone tissue, requiring a bone grafting procedure as treatment. It has been found that polymeric nanofiber matrices have the potential to be used as bone grafts; however, due to manufacturing techniques there is restriction in the fabrication of nanofibers into complex three-dimensional (3D) structures necessary for effective treatment, resulting in mechanical properties that are not sufficient for direct bone tissue engineering applications.

Yu has proposed a way to overcome this challenge by incorporating nanofibers onto biodegradable polymeric 3D scaffolds which have optimal porosity due to its open geometrics and large surface area permitting the necessary nutrient transport and cell penetration into the scaffold for successful repair of large bone defects. As a result, biodegradable polymeric 3D scaffolds can provide sufficient mechanical properties and eventually be applied universally in the treatment of bone injuries.

Yu, principal investigator for the research, is working in conjunction with Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D., University Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia, and Michelle Kofron, Ph.D., recent doctoral graduate of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Virginia.

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