Texas A&M University

February 19, 2023                                                                                                                                                                                            4:17 pm

Professor, Melissa Grunlan, in the biomedical engineering department at Texas A&M University, leads her own research team, with a particular interest in biomaterials, medical devices, and tissue engineering. Professor Grunlan's research is not solely involved with the biomedical engineering department, but with the material science department and the chemistry department as well. One of her research topics involves synthetic cartilage. Cartilage is the connective tissue that protects your bones and joints. Cartilage is found in many areas of your body, needed to reduce the friction between your bones, enhance resilience, and increase your support for flexibility. In most cases, cartilage is lost due to disease, age, or injury, so Grunlan and her team did some research on implementing synthetic cartilage, made up of hydrogels, to take its place.

In specialties such as biomechanics, when healthcare professionals are working to study the movements of the body, they look at cartilage. Many biomechanics work with patients who are recovering from injury treatments, so they can see the aftermath of such a hard load on the body. While studying artificial organs and prosthetic devices, it's important that I know the functions of each area of our body and how the presence of it impacts the patient, but how the absence of it impacts the patient as well.  Professor Grunlan's research was very interesting to me because as I begin to find solutions for the human body, replacing our natural parts for manipulated ones, I need to be able to understand not only why something works, but how it works too, so that I can properly access the issue, use the most efficient materials for its functions, and then know how it'll work alongside our bodily movements.