Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences student Artem Kutikov will be the featured speaker at the next Science Café Woo. Kutikov (at right) is a doctoral student in the UMass Medical School lab of Jie Song, PhD, associate professor of orthopedics & physical rehabilitation and cell & developmental biology, where he is trying to create synthetic scaffolds that assist the formation of new bone and degrade once their job is completed.
In his presentation “Synthetic bones: Bringing together biology and engineering to develop a better bone graft,” Kutikov will talk about how a combination of polymer science, engineering and cell biology is being used to develop new materials for bone repair and regeneration. Attendees will learn about tissue engineering and how technologies such as 3-D printing and shape-memory polymers are changing orthopedics.
Part of the world-wide Science Café effort powered by NOVA, Science Café Woo aims to demystify science by bringing together local scientists and the public in an informal community gathering place to discuss how science applies to everyday life. Since Science Café Woo’s introduction in 2013, local scientists have engaged the Worcester community in an open dialogue about the science happening at UMMS, their passion for it, the discoveries they have made and the relevance of their work to society.
Kutikov’s talk will take place at NU Café in Worcester on Monday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. Contact sciencecafewoo@gmail.com for additional information about this and other Worcester programs, and visit the Science Café website to learn more about the nationwide initiative.
