2007 Engineering Lecture Series
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Rebuilding the Baby Boomer: Replacement Parts for the 21st Century
Location: Kane Hall Room 120, UW Seattle
Time: 7 - 9 p.m.
NOTE: Please note that due to the number of registrations we've received for this lecture, we've moved the lecture from Kane Hall 110 to a larger room - Kane Hall 120.
Bionic Man has bounded from science fiction to 21st century reality. Today's engineers are developing "smart" materials and frontier-blazing technology to grow new human tissue, build entire organs, target drug delivery and even use the brain to control artificial limbs. These innovations will help save lives and improve our journey from cradle to grave. Learn about the amazing advances on the health-care horizon that may someday earn "medical miracle" status.
Buddy D. Ratner
Professor of Bioengineering, and Director, University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials
Buddy D. Ratner received a B.S. degree in chemistry from Brooklyn College in 1967, and a Ph.D. degree in polymer chemistry from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1972. He is currently the Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization and professor of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. From 1985 to 1996 he served as director of the National ESCA and Surface Analysis Center for Biomedical Problems (NESAC/BIO), an NCRR instrumentation resource. In 1996 he became director of University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials (UWEB), a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center. UWEB, an 11 year program, is a consortium of professors, students and biomedical device companies, and is directed toward revolutionizing the way biomaterials heal in medical implant applications. In 2000 he also assumed the principal investigator role on an NIH BRP program to tissue engineer living heart muscle.
Prof. Ratner, elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2002, is also a member of many other professional societies including the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the American Vacuum Society, the Society For Biomaterials, the Controlled Release Society, the European Society for Biomaterials, the International Academy for Medical and Biological Engineering, the International Society for Contact Lens Research, the Materials Research Society, and the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. He was President of the Society For Biomaterials from 1990 to 1991, and in 1998 he was elected Vice-President of AIMBE. In 2002, he became President of AIMBE. In 2003, he was elected President of the Tissue Engineering Society – North America (TESNA) and Vice President of the Tissue Engineering Society International. In 2005 he was elected as a member of council of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS).
He is the founding editor of the journal, Plasmas and Polymers, an Associate Editor for the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, the editor of Journal of Undergraduate Research in BioEngineering and serves on the editorial boards of ten other journals and book series. In 1988, he edited "Surface Characterization of Biomaterials," published by Elsevier Press. In 1996, Academic Press published "Biomaterials Science: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine," and in 2004 published the second edition. Ratner served as lead editor for both editions. In 1997, he co-edited "Surface Modification of Polymeric Biomaterials" (Plenum Press). In 1998, Ratner co-edited "Scanning Probe Microscopy of Polymers", published by the American Chemical Society. Dr. Ratner is the author of over 400 papers, 59 book chapters and many patents.
In 1989 Dr. Ratner received the Clemson Award for Contributions to the Biomaterials Literature. In April 1990 he received the Burlington Resources Foundation Outstanding Research Award, and in 1991 received the 1st Annual Perkin-Elmer Physical Electronics Award for Excellence in Surface Science. In 1999 he received the Charles M. A. Stine Award in Materials Science from the American Institute of Chemical Engineering. In 2002 Ratner received the Medard Welch Award from the American Vacuum Society. In 2004 he received the Founders Award for the Society for Biomaterials, and in 2006 he was the recipient of its William Hall Award. Ratner is a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Vacuum Society, and the Society For Biomaterials.
The primary focus of Professor Ratner's research program is on biomaterials, surfaces and their interactions with biological systems. Specific research interests include biomaterials, biocompatibility, tissue engineering, surface analysis (ESCA, SIMS, STM, AFM, IR, contact angle methods), polyurethanes, plasma-deposited films, hydrogels, surface modification, bioresponsive polymers, self-assembling systems, drug delivery, sensors, protein adsorption, blood-materials interactions, cell interactions, biorecognition, biosensors, biomimetics, nanobiotechnology, multivariate statistical methods and ophthalmic materials.