Buddy Ratner (born January 19, 1947, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

) is an American

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of chemical engineering and bioengineering. He is the director of the Research Center for Biomaterials at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

(''University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials'', UWEB). He is also the faculty member for the Program for Technology Commercialization at the University of Washington.

Life

Ratner was born in 1947 in New York and in 1967 earned a

BS degree A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

. Five years later, he earned his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...

with a thesis in the field of

polymer chemistry Polymer chemistry is a sub-discipline of chemistry that focuses on the structures, chemical synthesis, and chemical and physical properties of polymers and macromolecules. The principles and methods used within polymer chemistry are also applic ...

. He then worked as a

postgraduate student Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

at the department of chemical engineering of the

before becoming a research assistant professor in 1975. He became a research associate professor four years later and an associate professor in 1984. From 1985 to 1996 he was director of the ''National ESCA and Surface Analysis Center for Biomedical Problems'' (NESAC / BIO), a research and service facility for surface analysis at the University of Washington . Since 1996 he has led the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

-funded Research Center for Biomaterials at the University of Washington (University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials, or UWEB). His research interests include the synthesis, modification and characterization of material surfaces for medical applications,

Tissue Engineering Tissue engineering is a biomedical engineering discipline that uses a combination of cells, engineering, materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to restore, maintain, improve, or replace different types of biolo ...

and its application in the field of

regenerative medicine Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...

, the synthesis and characterization of polymeric

biomaterial A biomaterial is a substance that has been Biological engineering, engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose – either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair, or replace a tissue function of the body) or a Medical diag ...

ien and processes of the

healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

and

inflammation Inflammation (from ) is part of the biological response of body tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. The five cardinal signs are heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin ''calor'', '' ...

associated with implants. He is co-author of over 300

scientific publications Scientific literature encompasses a vast body of academic papers that spans various disciplines within the natural and social sciences. It primarily consists of academic papers that present original empirical research and theoretical con ...

and co-editor of the 2004 second edition of the standard work "Biomaterials Science. An Introduction to Materials in Medicine". The ''International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering'', the World Federation of Societies for biomaterial science, awarded him the title of ''1996 Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering''. Ratner was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2002 for contributions to the understanding of the surface interactions of biological molecules and cells with medical implants.

Works (selection)

*''Surface Modification of Polymeric Biomaterials.''Plenum Press, New York 1997 *''Scanning Probe Microscopy of Polymers.''American Chemical Society, Washington DC 1998 *''Biomaterials Science. An Introduction to Materials in Medicine.''Second Edition. Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego 2004

References

Sources

*''Ratner, Buddy.'' ''American Men & Women of Science. A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological and Related Sciences.''18th ed. Bowker, New Providence, 1992, , Volume 6, p. 63

External links

UW Chemical Engineering - Buddy Ratner faculty homepage

Buddy Ratner Biomaterials Group Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratner, Buddy Chemical engineering academics American biochemists 1947 births Living people University of Washington faculty Polytechnic Institute of New York University alumni Brooklyn College alumni Presidents of Society for Biomaterials Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering