Julia Niemchak Yeh

US Patent:

6511650, Jan 28, 2003

Filed:

Apr 18, 2002

Appl. No.:

09/958376

Inventors:

Petra Eiselt - Houston TX
Craig Halberstadt - Charlotte NC
David Mooney - Ann Arbor MI
Julia Yeh - Ann Arbor MI
Rachel Latvala - Ann Arbor MI
Jon A. Rowley - Chapel Hill NC

Assignee:

The Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor MI

International Classification:

A61L 1542

US Classification:

424 44, 424 45, 424485, 424488, 424489, 424499, 424500, 521182, 521189, 521 841

Abstract:

This invention is directed to a new approach to form porous hydrogel materials by first creating gas pockets in the gel and then removing this gas. The removal of the gas creates a porous material, and the initial incorporation of sufficient gas allows one to create a material with an open, interconnected pore structure. Advantageous features of the resulting materials, in addition to their interconnected pore structure, may include that the pore structure is maintained over extended time periods and that the gels maintain a high mechanical integrity that allows seeding with cells and implantation without destruction or compression of the material.