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Undergraduate Resesarch in the Engineered Biomaterials Lab (EBL)

Dr. Rupak Rajachar

The overarching theme of the Engineered Biomaterials Lab (EBL) is to understand how physical and chemical cues guide cell behavior in tissues. Using specific studies of native and pathological tissues, we hope to develop rationale designs for new biomaterials as delivery vehicles to regulate cell and tissue behavior.

Using bioactive coatings developed in the lab Logan and Rich Heglund, another EBL student, have shown in initial experiments that they can inhibit bacterial biofilm formation. Biofilms play a significant role in the failure of many implant biomaterials.

Sam and Nick Mastricola are developing controlled release biomaterials to study cellular mechanisms involved in pathologic calcification (e.g. hardening of the arteries) as well as others to stabilize anti-angiogenic molecules for drug delivery

Samantha Jang-Stewart and Logan Janka, students in Professor Rajachar’s lab, are part of a team developing controlled materials to study mechanisms guiding tissue calcification and biofilm formation respectively. It is their hope that the research will lead to a better understanding of signals that modulate cell behavior during disease and infection, with the  prospect of developing targeted therapies to mitigate these conditions.

Rupak Rajachar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Office: Minerals and Materials Eng. Bldg.

Email: rupakr@mtu.edu

Telephone: 906-487-1129
Fax: 906-487-1717

Rajachar Research Laboratory Website