By Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D.

On February 10, we were honored to have Dr. Noreen Hickok, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and biochemistry & molecular biology at Thomas Jefferson University, speak as part of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering Seminar Series. Dr. Hickok delivered a talk entitled “Orthopaedic Implants and Infection: Surfaces, Synovial Fluid, and the Joint Environment.”

Dr. Hickok was one of my collaborators at Drexel University, and we published a research article in Journal of Orthopaedic Research. For the last 15 years, she and her colleagues have been exploring various means for preventing the establishment of infection in the presence of an implant. Dr. Hickok’s research interests center on strategies to subvert the ability of microorganisms to colonize these implants, as well as to prevent their propagation in the space immediately surrounding the implant. She received a Bachelor of Science from MIT and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University. Her postdoctoral research involved protein biochemistry, molecular endocrinology, and molecular biology. Her interest in cellular/bacterial interactions with surfaces and their regulation now dominates her research, resulting in the development of antibacterial surfaces that are while maintaining cellular compatibility as well as new insights on the role of the implant environment.

We look forward to bringing other leaders in regenerative engineering to speak as part of this seminar series here at UConn Health.