February 9, 2026

Dr. Roger Guillory II, PhD, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has been awarded a R35 grant from the NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences in the amount of $2,145,000 for the project, “Clarifying engineered bioabsorbable metals tissue-biomaterial interface and regeneration.” This research will investigate the physiological mechanisms governing bioabsorbable metal degradation and their impact on wound healing and tissue regeneration. This research aims to establish a technical design framework for engineering precision bioabsorbable metal materials, capable of actively modulating the body’s healing response.

Bioabsorbable metals represent a promising class of biomaterials for creating fully regenerative medical implants, as they gradually corrode and are resorbed by the body after fulfilling their structural role; however, their biocorrosion behavior in vivo is poorly understood and demonstrates high variability. Dr. Guillory’s previous work has shown that bioabsorbable metals interact dynamically with the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) produced by macrophages during inflammation, and that these interactions significantly influence the rate and pattern of material degradation. This finding highlights a feedback loop between inflammatory ROS/RNS generation and material biocorrosion, and it is postulated that this feedback loop is responsible for the difference in in vitro and in vivo biocorrosion mechanisms.

Through this award, the laboratory will elucidate the inflammation-driven biocorrosion mechanisms of bioabsorbable metals in three ways. First, the team will investigate how material characteristics affect the progression of inflammation and wound healing using advanced imaging and molecular analysis techniques to measure ROS/RNS activity and healing progression. Second, they will employ cell-targeting models to determine how key immune cell populations, including macrophages and neutrophils, regulate corrosion during different phases of the healing process. Third, the team will apply semi-quantitative elemental imaging to correlate the spatial accumulation of implant-derived metals, and detail their interactions with cells at the tissue-material interface.

The outcomes of this work will provide a precise description of the inflammation-mediated corrosion mechanisms unique to bioabsorbable metals and deliver a design framework to guide the next generation of bioactive, fully regenerative implant materials. Such an advancement would improve the lives of individuals that need bioabsorbable metal implants worldwide.

Dr. Roger Guillory is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and holds a secondary appointment to the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Guillory has recently been awarded grants from the We Care Fund, the

Cardiovascular Research Center and the National Institutes of Health for reducing restenosis after cardiovascular intervention, predicting the degradation rate of vascular magnesium implants, and defining the relationship between bioabsorbable magnesium alloy corrosion and the inflammatory microenvironment of the neointima, respectively. Dr. Guillory is director of the Regenerative Engineered Biomaterials Laboratory (REB Lab) with research interests that include cellular and molecular interactions of bioactive materials, bioabsorbable metals, advanced biomaterials characterization techniques, and developing biomaterials.

 

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