Thesis (Ph.D)--Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Andres Garcia; Committee Member: Andrew Lyon; Committee Member: Barbara Boyan; Committee Member: Johnna Temenoff; Committee Member: Todd McDevitt. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-140). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Polymer, Textile and Fiber Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. / Committee Chair: Tsukruk, Vladimir; Committee Member: Shofner, Meisha; Committee Member: Srinivasarao, Mohan; Committee Member: Thio, Yonathan; Committee Member: Weissburg, Marc. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Not available / text

Thesis (M.S.)--California Polytechnic State University, 2009. / Mode of access: Internet. Title from PDF title page; viewed on September 23, 2009. Major professor: Kristen O'Halloran Cardinal, Ph.D. "Presented to the faculty of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo." "In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree [of] Master of Science in General Engineering with specialization in Biomedical Engineering." "June 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-122).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Institute of Paper Science and Technology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2003. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Bioabsorbable orthopedic fixation devices are conceptually more attractive than metallic devices in repairing damaged tissues or in fastening implants. Our study focuses on investigating bioabsorbable composites for potential use as materials for orthopedic appliances. The study focuses on Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA), Polyglycolic acid (PGA), Poly-e-caprolactone (PCL), matrices with Carbon fibers (AS4), Nylon fibers and PLLA fibers. Fiber coating effects have also been investigated, with compliant polymers (1%, 50% and 100% of matrix properties) and with hydroxyapatite (HA). Unidirectional, continuous fiber plies, and multi-directional, random and quasi-random short-fiber composites were considered in our study. NDSANDS a concentric cylinder model computer software, was used to evaluate the stiffness and strength of the bioabsorbable composites with unidirectional fiber orientation. To achieve a better physical understanding, the NDSANDS predictions were also compared with those given by a simple, mechanics of materials approach. The theory for multidirectional short fiber composites, recently developed by Giurgiutiu and Reifsnider was employed with three fiber-orientation distribution functions and three failure mechanisms. Stiffness and strength of bioabsorbable composites were predicted over a range of fiber volume fraction. It was found that AS4/PLLA with 16% fiber volume fraction can have properties close to the bone when used in short fiber composite. Similar results are obtained using AS4/PLLA with hydroxyapatite coating. PLLA/PGA and PLLA/PLLA also demonstrated properties close to those of the bone in the range of 25% and 64%. / Master of Science

No description available.

Current orthopedic implant technologies used suffer from slow rates of osseointegration, short lifetime, and lack of mechanical integrity as a result of poorly controlled cell-surface interactions. Recent biologically-inspired surface strategies (biomimetic) have focused on mimicking the biofunctionality of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by using short, adhesive oligopeptides, such as arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) present in numerous ECM components. However, these strategies have yielded mixed results in vivo and marginal bone healing responses. The central goal of this dissertation project was to engineer bioactive surfaces that specifically target integrin receptors important for osteogenic functions in order to improve bone tissue repair. In order to create integrin-specific interfaces, integrin-specific ligands reconstituting the fibronectin (FN) secondary/tertiary structure were first engineered and functionalized on material surfaces using several robust presentation schemes. We demonstrated that FN-mimetic-functionalized surfaces that directed α5β1 binding enhanced osteoblast and stromal cell integrin binding and adhesion, osteogenic signaling, and osteoblastic differentiation compared to various other RGD-based ligand-functionalized surfaces. Next, we investigated the effect of integrin-specific biointerfaces to modulate bone healing in a rat tibia implant bone model. We demonstrated, using a robust polymer brush system, that bioactive coatings on titanium implants that conferred high α5β1 integrin specificity in vitro enhanced bone formation and implant integration in vivo. Moreover, we showed that integrin specificity can be engineered using different immobilization schemes, including clinically-relevant ligand dip-coating, and promote the same robust in vivo effect. Furthermore, we investigate the synergistic roles of integrin specificity and ligand clustering on cell response by engineering biointerfaces presenting trimeric and pentameric "heads" of FNIII7-10 with nanoscale spacing. Integrin-specific ligand clustering supported α5β1-specific binding and cell adhesion and enhanced implant osseointegration in vivo compared to monovalent FNIII7-10 or non-functionalized biointerfaces. In summary, the FN-mimetic integrin-specific biointerfaces engineered in this thesis provide a clinically-relevant material surface strategy to modulate tissue healing responses. In addition, these results contribute to our greater understanding of how two specific material design parameters, integrin binding specificity and clustered ligand presentation, contribute individually and synergistically toward directing cell and tissue function.