2018 Hoffman Lecture – Stuart Cooper

“50 Years of Polyurethane Biomaterials: The Search for Blood Compatibility and Biostability”

Event details

Thursday, November 15, 2018
4:30 p.m.
Genome Sciences Auditorium (S060), Foege South
Reception will follow lecture

Speaker information

Stuart L. Cooper, Ph.D.
Distinguished College of Engineering Professor
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Ohio State University

Professor Stuart L. Cooper received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 1967. His thesis advisor was Arthur V. Tobolsky of the Chemistry Department. From 1967-1993 Stuart was a Professor at the University of Wisconsin and was Chair of the department from 1983-1989. From 1993 he held the positions of Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware, Chief Academic Officer at Illinois Institute of Technology and Provost at North Carolina State University. He joined the faculty of Ohio State University in 2004 and was chair through 2014. Stuart served as President of the Society for Biomaterials in 1996 and as President of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society in 2017. He received the Founders Award from the Society for Biomaterials in 2010, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2011, and received the Founders Award from AIChE in 2014. Since its inception in 1988 he has been co-Editor of the Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition.

Abstract

Stuart carried out some of the earliest research on high performance polyurethane thermoplastic elastomers. These materials are multiblock polymers of hard and soft segments that exhibit microphase separation in the solid state. In the 1970’s Stuart began investigation the blood-material interactions of polyurethanes. He developed an ex-vivo arterio-venous shunt and studied radiolabeled protein and platelet deposition on polyurethanes of varied chemistries and surface treatments. Other contributions involved studies of biomaterial related infection and inflammation and the synthesis and characterization of functionalized polyurethanes purposefully designed for biomedical applications.

About the Hoffman Lecture

The Hoffman Lecture honors UW Bioengineering’s Dr. Allan Hoffman, now in his 60th year of active research. Dr. Hoffman joined the UW faculty in 1970, when he began to synthesize polymers and hydrogels with special physical and biomedical properties. By combining these special biomaterials with drugs, enzymes and antibodies, he pioneered the applications of temperature and pH-responsive intelligent polymers and hydrogels in the fields of drug delivery, diagnostic assays, and biologically-active and non-fouling polymer surfaces. Much of this research has been carried out in collaboration with Buddy Ratner, Tom Horbett and Patrick Stayton in our BioE Dept. With Dr. Buddy Ratner, Dr. Hoffman is a co-editor of the “Textbook of Biomaterials Science,” now in its third edition. A few of Dr. Hoffman’s awards and recognitions include election as President of the Society for Biomaterials in 1983; receipt of the Founders’ Awards from the Society for Biomaterials (SFB) in 2000 and from the Controlled Release Society (CRS) in 2007. In 2005 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Dr. Hoffman is one of six members of our department who have been elected to the NAE. In 2016 he received the CRS Foundation Recognition Award for outstanding contributions over his career to drug delivery science and technology. Dr. Hoffman has also received the 2017 Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal Award of Acta Materialia at the 2017 SFB meeting in Minneapolis. Dr. Hoffman takes great pride in being an international “ambassador for biomaterials” as he continues to be interactive at UW and around the world.