Biomedical Textile Structures Laboratory opens

Forty years ago, Dr. David Brookstein, dean of Philadelphia University, was an undergraduate in the former Textile and Sciences College. In late October, he and the University president, Dr. Stephen Spinelli, presided at the grand opening of the new Biomedical Textile Structures Laboratory. The lab, funded by a $1.25 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, will work with medical researchers from Drexel University College of Medicine to develop nanofiber platforms for biomedical textiles. Implantable textiles, such as the bifurcated aortic arch graft (developed at Philadelphia University), can speed repair of human tissues. Other textile uses include sutures, mesh fabrics for hernia and abdominal repair, vascular implants for heart problems and support for implants of engineered tissue.