Jennifer Weiser

Teaching Principles of Biomaterials to Undergraduate Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic with At-Home Inquiry-Based Learning Laboratory Experiments

1. A physically crosslinked polymer can refer to one that has:
1. Hydrophobic interactions keeping the chains together
2. Multiple chains entangled
3. Hydrogen bonding
4. Covalent bonds
5. A, B, C
6. A, B, D
7. B, C
8. B, D
9. All of the above

2. To increase the compressive strength of a polymer you can:
1. Decrease the crystallinity
2. Decrease the molecular weight
3. Decrease the number of non-crosslinked units
4. Decrease the temperature

3. A hydrogel refers to a polymer that is:
1. Hydrophobic and chemically crosslinked
2. Hydrophobic and physically crosslinked
3. Hydrophilic and physically crosslinked
4. Hydrophilic and chemically crosslinked
5. A and B
6. C and D

4. Synthesizing gelatin cubes with higher concentration of gelatin would:
1. Increase stiffness by increasing entanglements and crosslinking
2. Increase stiffness by decreasing entanglements and crosslinking
3. Decrease stiffness by increasing entanglements and crosslinking
4. Decrease stiffness by decreasing entanglements and crosslinking

5. If you have a composite hydrogel made with components that have different stiffnesses, the resulting material will most likely have mechanical properties that are:
1. Like the stiffer component
2. Like the less stiff component
3. A stiffness somewhere in between the two components

6. Which is NOT a reason for using injectable polymeric biomaterials to seal defects in the intervertebral disc of the spine?
1. Polymers may be tuned to mimic intervertebral disc biomechanical properties
2. Polymers will not degrade, so they can permanently seal defects
3. Polymers are injectable and easily translatable to current surgical practices
4. Polymers may adhere to the intervertebral disc to minimizer herniation