Abstract: Smart Polymers for Biomedical Applications

What makes polymers smart, and how can they be used in the (bio) medical field? One class of smart polymers are shape memory polymers. They can remember a previous shape after being programmed into a so-called temporary shape. Once the right trigger is applied, they will switch back to their original shape. This talk will explain the shape memory effect in more depth and how shape memory polymers can be utilized for biomedical applications. Two particular examples from our lab will be covered. The first example is on self-softening polymeric substrates for bioelectronic devices. The second example will cover the translation of heat shrink tubing to the biomedical field.

Bio

Dr. Ecker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Texas (UNT) and the director of the Ecker Lab - Smart Polymers for Biomedical Applications. Her research interests lie at the intersection of polymer science and biomedical engineering. Her Team is quite diverse and has expertise in Chemistry, Materials Science, Engineering, and Biology. Dr. Ecker combines all those fields to develop the next generation of biomedical devices based on smart polymeric materials. These materials consist of shape memory polymers responsive to bodily conditions and mechanically adaptive to comply with a tissue. All their custom polymers are biocompatible, and some of them are even biodegradable.

Dr. Ecker is originally from Germany, where she studied Chemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin and perused her doctoral research on shape memory polymers at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) before she moved to the US. She conducted her postdoctoral studies at the University of Texas at Dallas in the Advanced Polymer Research Lab of Dr. Walter Voit in close collaboration with the Neural Networks and Interfaces Lab of Dr. Joseph Pancrazio. Dr. Ecker has published 33 peer-reviewed publications with over 950 citations; she holds two patents and has given numerous presentations at national and international conferences. Her research on shape memory polymers is supported by the prestigious NSF CAREER grant. She started her lab at UNT in the Fall of 2019 and is currently mentoring a group of four undergraduate and five graduate students from diverse and multidisciplinary backgrounds. Additionally, she is the faculty advisor for the BMES student organization. Finally, she was fortunate to present her work at the TEDxUNT event in 2021. Dr. Ecker is a member of various professional societies, including the American Chemical Society (ACS), Materials Research Society (MRS), Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and Society for Biomaterials (SfB).