This award provides travel and participant support for the U.S. PI, Dr. Bingyun Li, Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopedics and Chemical Engineering, West Virginia University, to undertake a 10-day planning visit November 6-15, 2007 to assess facilities and plan future research cooperation at two labs in the area of advanced biomedical devices. The PI will visit with scientists at two institutions with related and complementary expertise: Dr. GAO, Changyou of the Polymer Sciences and Engineering Department of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; and Dr. YANG, Ke at the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenyang, China. The goal of these visits is to develop research proposals on drug-eluting biodegradable metal devices (Dr. Yang's lab) and polypeptide microcapsules for controlled drug delivery (Dr. Gao's lab). The planning visits are expected to lead to next generation fracture fixation devices (e.g., bone screws) that prevent or delay the onset of infection. In October 2008 and May 2009, the PI will bring one undergraduate student and one graduate student respectively to conduct experiments at these sites and be mentored by Dr. Gao and Dr. Yang.
The proposed planning visit will allow the U.S. PI to develop a new, mutually beneficial collaboration with his Chinese counterparts. All participants have complementary expertise and qualifications. A visit is a necessary step in solidifying future research plans. The visits will include a female undergraduate biology major and a graduate student at WVU. The PI will introduce students to a broad network of scientists and graduate students in China. Each will spend one week in the lab, characterizing polypeptide microcapsules and testing the biocompatibility of metal devices, respectively. Professor Gao and Professor Yang will serve as mentors for the two students, and the PI will prepare the U.S. students to work effectively in international lab environment.
