Student: Daniel Gentry
Project Mentors: Dr. Brent Vernon – SBHSE
Dr. Jessica Weaver - SBHSE
Dr. Derek Overstreet - Sonoran Biosciences & SBHSE
YouTube Link: View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting
Zoom Link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/91753327274
Zoom meeting time: 9am - 11am
Abstract
Of the 1.5 million joint arthroplasty procedures that take place within the US annually, one to two percent result in a bacterial infection. These infections are currently treated through the use of antibiotic-loaded bone cement, which requires a secondary operation to remove. These infections may be easier addressed through the use of an in situ-gelling antibiotic-loaded polymer hydrogel, which naturally degrades and clears from the body over time, eliminating the need for a follow-up procedure. While the polymer being tested is non-toxic, unreacted monomer impurities have the potential to be genotoxic, necessitating an effective and efficient method of purification.
Our current purification method involves three repeat precipitation of the polymer using acetone as a solvent and methyl tert-butyl ether as an anti-solvent. With each precipitation, the purified polymer is collected while monomer impurities are filtered away in the solvent solution. The efficacy of this purification method was assessed using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and showed a substantial reduction in monomer content after each precipitation, being negligible after three rounds.