Research Projects

The keystone of research in the Sydlik Group is the design and synthesis of novel organic polymers and materials applying the principles of molecular design. Specific projects are highlighted below. If the title is clickable, it means we've written about it in a blog post so follow the link for more detail!

Osteomimetic Polyphosphate Modified Graphite as a Degradable, Cell Instructive Scaffold for Bone Regeneration (Anne, Brian)

Severe bone injury can occur due to traumatic events such as automobile accidents or battlefield injuries, and every year millions of patients in the United States undergo procedures, often invasive and painful, every year to correct these deformities. Currently, autologous tissue transplantation or implantation of prosthetic devices is used as a therapeutic treatment for large defect areas: both therapies suffer limitations. To encourage healing beyond this critical juncture, we have designed a biomaterial that innately encourages regeneration by sustaining osteogenic stem cell differentiation and muting fibrotic differentiation.

In this way, tissue engineering has emerged as a potential treatment alternative for individuals plagued with debilitating bone injuries or diseases, as synthetic materials have potential to direct the healing response. In the Sydlik Group, we have developed a chemical procedure that lets us transform graphite into a degradable, cell-instructive scaffold that recapitulates the properties of native bone to induce bone healing. Starting from graphite, we oxidize to graphene oxide (GO) and perform further chemistry to give phosphate-modified graphene (PG) materials. PG can be hot pressed into bone-shaped constructs that offer excellent and tunable mechanical properties, degradability, controllable surface chemistry, and biocompatibility.

Sutureless Wound Closure with Covalent Controlled Release for Local Drug Delivery: Therapeutic Methacrylate Adhesives (Zoe)

Next-generation medical adhesives have the potential to replace sutures as the gold standard of care for wound closure. However, current adhesives like Vetbond^TM and Histoacryl^® face challenges to widespread implementation, including brittleness and an aqueous degradation pathway that releases formaldehyde. To address these limitations, we designed novel therapeutic methacrylate (TMA) monomers on the molecular level to impart tunable mechanical properties, increased water stability, and programmable bioactivity to cyanoacrylate adhesives. Uniquely, TMAs take advantage of covalent controlled release as a tool to control the delivery of therapeutic small molecules from different covalent bonds (anhydride, ester, or amide) directly to injured tissue. Covalent controlled release from composite TMA adhesives, prepared as 10% TMA by weight in Vetbond^TM, was shown to follow the order predicted by hydrolysis chemistry, with the anhydride-tether TMA adhesive delivering therapeutics on the same order of magnitude and time scale as topical medications (8.8 ± 1.5 mg per gram of adhesive after 3.4 h). Compared to Vetbond^TM, composite TMA adhesives have shown up to a 71% reduction in formaldehyde release, improved cytocompatibility in cells present in healing wounds, and up to a 319% increase in toughness (including both greater lap shear strength and ductility). Further, all TMA adhesives are effective at adhering to porcine skin. These transformative materials bring sophisticated controlled release technology to the field of medical adhesives, combining effective, convenient tissue fixation with programmable bioactivity.

Studying the thermomechanical properties of copolymers to develop laboratory, theoretical, and communication skills essential to a successful research career (Will) 

Graduate and undergraduate education is the key to success in all branches of science: in industry and academia alike. In particular, Carnegie Mellon University is widely recognized as a leader in polymer chemistry, and many classes are offered, as well as research experiences, to prepare students for graduate studies and careers in the field. Despite this breadth, a comprehensive class that provides the hands on laboratory, writing, and presentation skills, as well as theory in the field does not exist. Even after many classes and years of research experience, students enter graduate school or the work force still uncertain about the demands and expectations of how to learn new laboratory techniques, what is required in the writing of a paper or a grant, and what constitutes a good scientific presentation. Further, students many rely on instrumentation to produce results, without a deeper understanding of the principles applied by that instrument.

This project overcomes these deficits and equips students with the analytical and practical skills necessary to be successful in a prestigious research environment. We have designed a course centered around a laboratory experiment. Specifically, students use advanced Schlenk technique to synthesize a series of acrylate copolymers. These copolymers are designed to demonstrate the effect of copolymerization on the thermomechanical properties of the polymers, teaching the students, in effect, material design. Students analyze these polymers using techniques essential to the field, including H-NMR (including end group analysis), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), thermogravimentric analysis (TGA), dynamic scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The laboratory techniques are accompanied by in class lectures describing the theory and mathematics behind the measurements. Further, the course is augmented with opportunities to teach technical communication skills, including creative grant writing, technical presentations, writing a compelling journal article, and making effective images and figures.