N.C. A&T professor awarded $550K grant for research on reducing inflammation through biomaterials

A North Carolina A&T University professor researching how to create more effective healing by using biomaterials has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation.

The NSF awarded a three-year, $550,000 grant to Dr. Narayan Bhattarai, an associate professor of bioengineering at A&T.

The grant will fund research on how metal-composite biomaterial can significantly reduce the inflammation and scar formation of wounds, leading to more effective healing for patients. Bhattarai is the principal investigator on the grant titled.

Too much magnesium, zinc and calcium — metal implants used temporarily for tissue repair — can be harmful to the body. As the metals degrade, their ions scatter and latch on to body not in need of the treatment, which can cause toxicity and other unwanted side effects.

Bhattarai seeks to find the rate by which these helpful metal particles degrade in a physiological environment to develop a controlled treatment that delivers a proper dose of materials.

“We have three goals in this research,” Bhattarai said. “First, we need to know the size, geometry and chemical composition of the particles in order to develop an appropriate composite mesh.”

The mesh is a combination of an FDA-approved bioresorbable polymer with metal particles that dissolve over time, supplying the healing properties of metal ions to the wound site.

“Once we understand the rate of decay of these polymer-metals composite mesh, we can start testing these new structures to find out whether they can activate an immune response and trigger regenerative wound healing,” Bhattarai said.

Bhattarai will test the biodegradable mesh covered with metal particles by exposing it to cells in in vitro, cells which are safe to test because they are not part of a living organism and allow Bhattari to study if they are sufficiently reducing fibrotic responses and inflammation.

The grant builds on Bhattarai’s earlier research funding support from Department of Defense and NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials established on A&T’s campus. Working with the DOD and ERC, Bhattarai has designed and developed a wide range of health-care biomaterials that mimic the nano- to micro-scale order found in nature.

In 2020, Bhattarai was recognized as a top 2% cited scientist internationally, according to study by Stanford University. He is one of the founding faculty members of the bioengineering program at A&T.

He has presented research at numerous conferences sponsored by the Biomedical Engineering Society, Society for Biomaterials, the American Society of Mechanical Engineering and the American Society for Engineering Education. Bhattarai will co-chair the 37th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference 2021 this year.

The project supports one graduate research assistant and two biomedical engineering undergraduate research assistants. During the summer, Bhattarai plans to hire a local high school teacher to get hands-on experience in a lab at A&T to conduct research, learn about engineering and develop a course model to teach to students.

Jagannathan Sankar, Ph.D., ERC director and distinguished professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, will serve as senior personnel on the project. Sankar will serve as an advisor to assist in fabrication and characterizing magnesium and zinc particles and to work with the educational component of the project.