Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program Director
Bio
Post-Doc Chemical Engineering, UC Los Angeles, 2012-2016Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, UC Los Angeles, 2011B.S. Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis, 2006
"My research focuses on inventing micro-scale, instructive biomaterials for accelerated and improved recovery from injury and illness with a heavy emphasis on clinical translation."
Donald Richieri Griffin
Donald Griffin improves clinical translation of acellular and cellular therapies through enhanced hydrogel-tissue integration, specifically focusing on the development of passive and active instructional microenvironments using microscale building blocks. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. After his training in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, Don joined the faculty at the University of Virginia in 2017.
His lab works on creating advanced biomaterials to support both fundamental science and translational approaches to tissue regeneration. They engineer biomaterials using a unique combination of microscale geometric control and novel chemistries. Don's work also bridges the academic-industry relationship with recognition as an inventor on several pending patents. Additionally, Don is a co-founder of a growing biomaterials company, Tempo Therapeutics (located in San Diego).
Deploying a Hydrogel to Wounds in the Trachea Poses a Distinct Challenge
Biomaterials expert Don Griffin is taking his team's success using microporous annealed particle (MAP) gels for wound healing to a dynamic, difficult environment.
Projects range from development of biosensors, artificial intelligence for testing, vaccine development, novel treatment options, and better data analytics to predict the spread of the virus.
"Particle Hydrogels Based on Hyaluronic Acid Building Blocks." ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., 2016, 2 (11), pp 2034–2041. E Sideris, DR Griffin, Y Ding, S Li, WM Weaver, D Di Carlo, T Hsiai, T Segura
"Accelerated wound healing by injectable microporous gel scaffolds assembled from annealed building blocks." Nature Materials, 2015, 14: 737–744. DR Griffin, WM Weaver, P Scumpia, D DiCarlo, T Segura
"Hybrid Photopatterned Enzymatic Reaction (HyPER) for In situ Cell Manipulation." ChemBioChem, 2014, 15 (2): 233–242. DR Griffin, J Borrajo, A Soon, GF Acosta-Vélez, V Oshita, N Darling, J Mack, T Barker, ML Iruela-Arispe, T Segura
"Synthesis of Photodegradable Macromers for Conjugation and Release of Bioactive Molecules." Biomacromolecules, 2013, 14 (4): 1199–1207. DR Griffin, JL Schlosser, SF Lam, TH Nguyen, HD Maynard, AM Kasko
"Photoselective Delivery of Model Therapeutics from Hydrogels." ACS Macro Letters, 2012, 1 (11): 1330–1334. DR Griffin, AM Kasko
"Photodegradable Macromers and Hydrogels for Live Cell Encapsulation and Release." Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2012, 134 (31): 13103–13107. DR Griffin, AM Kasko
