We are located on the 8th floor of the Engineering Research Center on UC’s West Campus.

Welcome

Welcome to the Collier lab, located in the Biomedical Engineering Department in the Colleges of Medicine and Engineering at the University of Cincinnati.

 

Research Overview

    Significant advances have recently been made in the design, synthesis, and production of nanoscale materials for biological applications, but the translation of these promising technologies into high-impact medical treatments has yet to be realized.  In the Collier Lab, we seek to contribute not only to the basic design and synthesis of novel nanostructured biomaterials but also to the translation of these materials into tomorrow’s medical treatments.

 

    Primarily, our lab focuses on designing synthetic, nanostructured biomaterials as matrices for tissue repair and regeneration.  As inspiration, we look to examples provided in Nature, particularly by studying the molecular design of natural extracellular matrices (ECMs).  By understanding the roles that particular ECMs play in processes such as wound healing or tissue development, we aim to design synthetic biomolecular biomaterials that recapitulate these roles.

     For constructing such materials, we have access to an expanding synthetic toolbox.  Particular strategies that we are investigating include molecular design and self-assembly, biocompatible chemistries for conjugating self-assembled structures into macromolecular materials, and the tailoring of complex, modular, self-assembling materials to display complex combinations of cues for inducing specific cellular responses. 

     Researchers and students in our lab develop and draw upon a highly multidisciplinary skill set, including molecular biology, synthetic chemistry, cell biology, polymer chemistry, and materials science. 

    

    

Laboratory

     Our lab, on the 8th floor of UC's Engineering Research Center, is housed within an approximately 10,000 square foot complex known as the "Frank Noyes Tissue Engineering and Biomechanics Laboratories".  This facility supports a total of five UCBME faculty working in the Tissue Engineering program. The labs are functionally designed to support all aspects of this program and contain a cell culture lab, necropsy suite, organic synthesis labs, microscopy facilities, and mechanical testing instrumentation. Most importantly, the labs are constructed in such a fashion to maximize interdisciplinary collaboration in tissue engineering, biomaterials synthesis, biomechanics, and cell biology.  

 

Collier Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department

Our research deals with

designing nanostructured biomolecular scaffolds for regenerative medicine.