Dr. Elliott E. Hill is a PhD trained dentist with 16 years of clinical experience. In addition, I completed my PhD training in one of the most well respected tissue engineering labs in the country and finally, my post doctoral training under Dr. James Baker. Together this background gives me a new perspective on the issues and science done in MNIMBS. In addition, my affiliation with the Dental School encourages the cross discipline collaboration that promotes innovation in science.

Research Interests:

Our lab is interested in the marriage of nanotechnology and tissue engineering.  Specifically, we study the use of nano-polymer, small molecule combinations to control and direct cell fate. The rationale for this work is that when completed, it is expected to make possible the synthesis of therapeutic polymers with multiple signaling molecules targeted to either organic or mineralized tissues with tightly controlled kinetics. To address this problem, we propose to identify and mimic the natural cell adhesion mechanisms in tissues by objectively testing the central hypothesis that therapeutics fabricated with functionalized synthetic dendritic polymers conjugated with cyclic RGD peptides, will through binding to reactive moieties, provide a platform for molecular cures that enhance recovery from injury due to trauma or disease.