Warren Grayson
Applications
tissue engineering, bone grafts, biomaterial scaffolds, bioreactor designDirector, Laboratory for Craniofacial and Orthopedic Tissue Engineering
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Our research in the Grayson Lab addresses the challenges associated with regenerating large craniofacial and skeletal muscle tissue defects. We employ engineering techniques to regulate cell fate in biomaterial scaffolds and to design bioreactors capable of maintaining cells’ viability and guiding their differentiation in large tissue implants. Our final goal is to create patient-specific grafts with functional biological and mechanical characteristics.
Featured article
COOKING UP BONE REPLACEMENT
Each year, birth defects, trauma or surgery leave some 200,000 people in the United States in need of replacement bones in the head or face. Traditionally, the best treatment required surgeons to remove part of a patient’s fibula, cut it into the general shape needed and implant it in the right location. But this procedure not only creates leg trauma but also falls short—because the relatively straight fibula can’t be shaped to fit the subtle curves of the face very well.