Ebru Oral, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery Harvard Medical School & Associate Investigator Technology Implementation Research Center, Mass General Research Institute
Ebru Oral | June 11, 2024 - 6 PM
Engineering UHMWPE Joint Implants: a biomedical polymer success story
An overview of the manufacturing steps, structure-property relationships, and the regulatory process of the UHMWPEs developed and currently under development.
Biography
Dr. Ebru Oral is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School and the Associate Director of the Harris Orthopaedic Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She is an expert on polymeric bearing surfaces for joint replacement. Among other honors, she is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the highest national honor for inventors and a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, an honor for the top 1-2% of biomedical scientists.
Dr. Oral received her B.S. degree from Boğaziçi University in Turkey and her Ph.D. from Purdue University, both in Chemical Engineering. Her research is in the science, application, and relevant testing of implantable polymeric materials to address medical problems. Her work on joint implants resulted in the first clinical use of vitamin E-stabilized cross-linked UHMWPE joint implants. Her current work incorporates therapeutics for the controlled local release of antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and analgesics from implantable materials and strives to provide translational guidelines for their use. She has over 70 peer-reviewed publications with an h-index of 37 and numerous book chapters and preprints. She also is an inventor on 46 US and international patents and has numerous patent applications regarding implant manufacturing methods and implant materials.
Research Interests
implantable polymeric materials; infection; joint prosthesis; local delivery of therapeutics; long bone fracture; materials testing; polyethylenes; preclinical models of periprosthetic infection; simulation of in vivo environments; vitamin e
