Tom Horbett
2006 Catalyst Article
The research in my lab has focused a lot on ways to improve blood compatibility of biomaterials by reducing the adsorption of fibrinogen, which is required for platelet adhesion. More recently, we have focused on the role of von Willebrand’s’ factor (vWf), because we found that adsorption of von Willebrand's factor is also very important, especially at higher shear rate. The first paper in that work appeared very recently, with Dean Kwak as the first author.
In fall 2004, I gave an invited presentation at the AVS meeting. It was exciting for me as it was the first time I showed our new work on vWf. In spring 2005, three of my students had presentations at the Society for Biomaterials meeting. Two students received substantial travel awards from the Society because of the excellence of their abstracts. I was also invited to give a talk at the 2005 Gordon Conference on Biomaterials, because of our new work on vWf. Since invitations to Gordon conferences are only given after the conference chair decides you have something to present, that will be stimulating and provoke lots of discussion. This invitation was also a nice tribute to my lab and my students.
In winter 2005, I taught my cell and proteins interactions with foreign materials course. For the first time, all course materials were on the Web, using the UW’s Catalyst system—students even turned in their homework through the Web page! Winter Quarter was also a busy time due to faculty recruiting, as I was on the ChemE faculty search committee this year. In spring, I taught radiotracer methodology, and again everything was on the Web.
Finally, this spring saw the retirement of Lai Lu and Ladonna Kennedy, two excellent staff in Chemical Engineering, whom I have worked with for many years. I will miss the strong support of both of these great people!
