Edelman Lab

Welcome

The Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center, or Edelman Lab, is home to a collaborative research environment with teams of clinicians, engineers, and scientists from both academia and industry that work together to create translatable solutions to clinically relevant problems. Led by Elazer Edelman, the lab uses elements of continuum mechanics, digital signal processing, molecular biology, and polymeric controlled release technology to tackle a variety of challenges. Projects range from examining the interplay between mechanical support devices and native physiology to the cellular and molecular mechanisms that transform stable coronary-artery disease to unstable coronary syndromes. Tissue-generated cells, for example, deliver growth factors and growth inhibitors for the study and potential treatment of accelerated arterial disease following angioplasty and bypass surgery. The laboratory holds patents for drug-delivery devices, mechanical circulatory support approaches, tissue-engineered implants, and new drug formulations.

Research Areas

Biomaterials

Biomaterials of ever-greater sophistication are being implanted in the body for the purposes of drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and structural support.

Drug Delivery

We are investigating how smart degradable polymer-based controlled drug delivery systems can be used to obtain targeted, sustained and tunable release kinetics.

Implanted Devices

Our studies have enabled us to characterize tissue responses to implanted devices such as endovascular stents in order to determine how design influences biology.

Mechanical Support

Our work aims to address the increasing demand for transplants through novel mechanical support systems that assist failing organs or increase the number of potential donor organs.