Lisa Pruitt

Chancellor's Professor, Bioengineering and Mechanical Engineering Lawrence Talbot Chair, Engineering Core Member, UCB/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering 5134 Etcheverry mailcode: MC 1740 (510) 642-2595 fax: (510) 643-5599 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/pruitt/index.html Membership effective July 1994

Research Interests

Characterization of structural evolution in medical grade ultra high molecular weight poliethylene due to sterilization: the implications for total joint replacements.

Research Summary

Director of the Medical Polymer and Biomaterials Group. Research is focused on the structure-property relationships of load bearing medical grade polymers and biological materials. Current projects include the characterization of fatigue fracture mechanisms and tribological performance of orthopedic polymers. Surface modifications using plasma and low energy ion-beam methods are used to control texture development in medical grade polymers due to wear, fatigue and multiaxial loading and to tailor cell attachment for optimized biocompatibility. Retrievals of orthopedic implants are characterized to model in vivo degradation of synthetic cartilage and acrylic bone cements. Biomechanical characterization of cartid plaques and vascular tissue is performed to assess cardiovascular treatments and to develop predictive models for plaque rupture. The primary goal of these projects is to develop micromechanistic links between structure and propertied in load bearing tissues and their replacements. Laboratory techniques for structural characterization include TEM, FEM, SAXS, XPS, DSC, DGC, GPC, FTIR, AFM, fatigue testing, fracture analysis, and nonindentaion. Teaching experience includes freshman seminars on Perspectives in Engineering Science; Careers in Bioengineering, and Materials in Medicine; undergraduate courses on Mechanical Behavior and Processing of Materials, Biomaterials, and the Principles of Bioengineering; and graduate courses on Fracture Mechanics, Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Polymer Engineering and Synthetic Biomaterials.

Selected Publications

A.P.D. Elfick, K. Healy, A.Unsworth, L. Pruitt, "The Importance of Protein Physisorption in BioMEMs/NEMs Applications: A Nanotribological Study" in "Life Cycle Tribology" (Eds Dowson D, Priest M, Dalmaz G, Lubrecht AA), p835-844, Tribology and Interface Engineering Series, No 48, Elsevier, Amsterdam, (2005).

C. Li, L.Pruitt, and K. King, “ Nanoindentation Differentiates Tissue-Scale Properties of Native Articular Cartilage,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Sep 15;78(4):729-38 (2006).

D.M. Ebenstein and L. Pruitt, “Nanoindentation of Biological Materials,” Nano Today 1(3) 27-33 (2006).

K. Cheng, L. Pruitt, C. Zaloudek, and M. D. Ries, “Osteolysis is caused by Tibial Component Debonding in Total Knee Arthroplasty,” Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research 443 333-336 (2006).

K. Simis, A. Bistolfi, A. Bellare and L. Pruitt, “The Combined Effects of Crosslinking and Elevated Crystallinity on the Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene,” Biomaterials 27(9). 1688-1694 (2006).