You are here

Home » About » Faculty

Matthew L Becker

Becker

Hugo L. Blomquist Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

The Becker Laboratory for Functional Biomaterials is a multidisciplinary organic materials group working at the interface of chemistry, engineering and medicine.   We are developing families of degradable polymers with highly tunable physical and biological properties that are being applied to unmet needs in flexible electronics, soft tissue repair, neural, orthopedic and vascular tissue engineering.  We are also actively engaged in additive manufacturing and the development of custom inks that are enabling unique solutions to challenging design paradigms in biomaterials and drug delivery.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • Hugo L. Blomquist Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
  • Professor of Chemistry
  • Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Material Science
  • Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Contact Information

  • Office Location: B120 Levine Science Res Center, 308 Research Drive, Durham, NC 27708
  • Office Phone: +1 919 681 3812
  • Email Address: matthew.l.becker@duke.edu
  • Websites:

Education

  • Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis, 2003
  • M.A. Washington University in St. Louis, 2000
  • B.S. Northwest Missouri State University, 1998

Research Interests

Polymer chemistry; bioconjugate chemistry; molecular imaging and additive manufacturing; materials for bone, soft tissue, neural and vascular tissue engineering; drug and protein delivery; degradable materials for flexible electronics

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Fellow (NAI). National Academy of Inventors. 2022
  • Fellow. American Chemical Society. 2020
  • Carl S. Marvel Award in Creative Polymer Chemistry. Polymer Division of the American Chemical Society. 2019
  • Fellow. American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering. 2018
  • Fellow. Royal Society of Chemistry. 2017
  • Biomacromolecules/ Macromolecules Young Investigator Award. American Chemical Society Publications. 2015

Courses Taught

  • MSEG 591: Independent Study
  • ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 490: Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering
  • ME 392: Undergraduate Projects in Mechanical Engineering
  • CHEM 590: Special Topics in Chemistry
  • CHEM 539: Polymer Chemistry
  • CHEM 494: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 493: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 394: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 393: Research Independent Study
  • CHEM 110DL: Honors Chemistry: Core Concepts in Context
  • BME 791: Graduate Independent Study

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Sayko, R; Wang, Z; Liang, H; Becker, ML; Dobrynin, AV, Degradation of Block Copolymer Films Confined in Elastic Media: Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Macromolecules, vol 53 no. 21 (2020), pp. 9460-9469 [10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01795] [abs].
  • Yeazel, TR; Becker, ML, Advancing Toward 3D Printing of Bioresorbable Shape Memory Polymer Stents., Biomacromolecules, vol 21 no. 10 (2020), pp. 3957-3965 [10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01082] [abs].
  • Nikam, SP; Chen, P; Nettleton, K; Hsu, Y-H; Becker, ML, Zwitterion Surface-Functionalized Thermoplastic Polyurethane for Antifouling Catheter Applications., Biomacromolecules, vol 21 no. 7 (2020), pp. 2714-2725 [10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00456] [abs].
  • Worch, JC; Weems, AC; Yu, J; Arno, MC; Wilks, TR; Huckstepp, RTR; O'Reilly, RK; Becker, ML; Dove, AP, Elastomeric polyamide biomaterials with stereochemically tuneable mechanical properties and shape memory., Nature communications, vol 11 no. 1 (2020) [10.1038/s41467-020-16945-8] [abs].
  • Shin, Y; Becker, ML, Alternating ring-opening copolymerization of epoxides with saturated and unsaturated cyclic anhydrides: Reduced viscosity poly(propylene fumarate) oligomers for use in cDLP 3D printing, Polymer Chemistry, vol 11 no. 19 (2020), pp. 3313-3321 [10.1039/d0py00453g] [abs].
  • Zhu, T; Yang, Y; Zheng, L; Liu, L; Becker, ML; Gong, X, Solution-Processed Flexible Broadband Photodetectors with Solution-Processed Transparent Polymeric Electrode, Advanced Functional Materials, vol 30 no. 15 (2020) [10.1002/adfm.201909487] [abs].
  • Sayko, R; Wang, Z; Liang, H; Becker, ML; Dobrynin, AV, Degradation of Films of Block Copolymers: Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Macromolecules, vol 53 no. 4 (2020), pp. 1270-1280 [10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02446] [abs].
  • Abel, AK; Dreger, NZ; Nettleton, K; Gustafson, TP; Forster, SP; Becker, ML, Amino Acid-Based Poly(ester urea)s as a Matrix for Extended Release of Entecavir., Biomacromolecules, vol 21 no. 2 (2020), pp. 946-954 [10.1021/acs.biomac.9b01586] [abs].
  • Kleinfehn, AP; Lammel Lindemann, JA; Razvi, A; Philip, P; Richardson, K; Nettleton, K; Becker, ML; Dean, D, Modulating Bioglass Concentration in 3D Printed Poly(propylene fumarate) Scaffolds for Post-Printing Functionalization with Bioactive Functional Groups., Biomacromolecules, vol 20 no. 12 (2019), pp. 4345-4352 [10.1021/acs.biomac.9b00941] [abs].
  • Guerra, AJ; Lammel-Lindemann, J; Katko, A; Kleinfehn, A; Rodriguez, CA; Catalani, LH; Becker, ML; Ciurana, J; Dean, D, Optimization of photocrosslinkable resin components and 3D printing process parameters., Acta biomaterialia, vol 97 (2019), pp. 154-161 [10.1016/j.actbio.2019.07.045] [abs].
  • Le Fer, G; Luo, Y; Becker, ML, Poly(propylene fumarate) stars, using architecture to reduce the viscosity of 3D printable resins, Polymer Chemistry, vol 10 no. 34 (2019), pp. 4655-4664 [10.1039/c9py00738e] [abs].
  • Cai, Z; Wan, Y; Becker, ML; Long, Y-Z; Dean, D, Poly(propylene fumarate)-based materials: Synthesis, functionalization, properties, device fabrication and biomedical applications., Biomaterials, vol 208 (2019), pp. 45-71 [10.1016/j.biomaterials.2019.03.038] [abs].
  • Xia, X; Bass, G; Becker, ML; Vogt, BD, Tuning Cooperative Assembly with Bottlebrush Block Co-polymers for Porous Metal Oxide Films Using Solvent Mixtures., Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids, vol 35 no. 29 (2019), pp. 9572-9583 [10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01363] [abs].
  • Luo, Y; Le Fer, G; Dean, D; Becker, ML, 3D Printing of Poly(propylene fumarate) Oligomers: Evaluation of Resin Viscosity, Printing Characteristics and Mechanical Properties., Biomacromolecules, vol 20 no. 4 (2019), pp. 1699-1708 [10.1021/acs.biomac.9b00076] [abs].
  • Dilla, RA; Motta, CMM; Xu, Y; Zander, ZK; Bernard, N; Wiener, CG; Vogt, BD; Becker, ML, Mechanically tunable, human mesenchymal stem cell viable poly(ethylene glycol)–oxime hydrogels with invariant precursor composition, concentration, and stoichiometry, Materials Today Chemistry, vol 11 (2019), pp. 244-252 [10.1016/j.mtchem.2018.11.003] [abs].
  • Philip, DL; Silantyeva, EA; Becker, ML; Willits, RK, RGD-Functionalized Nanofibers Increase Early GFAP Expression during Neural Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells., Biomacromolecules, vol 20 no. 3 (2019), pp. 1443-1454 [10.1021/acs.biomac.9b00018] [abs].
  • Xia, X; Qiang, Z; Bass, G; Becker, ML; Vogt, BD, Morphological control of hydrothermally synthesized cobalt oxide particles using poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), Colloid and Polymer Science, vol 297 no. 1 (2019), pp. 59-67 [10.1007/s00396-018-4434-4] [abs].
  • Guerra, AJ; Lara-Padilla, H; Becker, ML; Rodriguez, CA; Dean, D, Photopolymerizable Resins for 3D-Printing Solid-Cured Tissue Engineered Implants., Current drug targets, vol 20 no. 8 (2019), pp. 823-838 [10.2174/1389450120666190114122815] [abs].
  • Cavanaugh, M; Silantyeva, E; Koh, GP; Malekzadeh, E; Lanzinger, WD; Willits, RK; Becker, ML, RGD-modified nanofibers enhance outcomes in rats after sciatic nerve injury, Journal of Functional Biomaterials, vol 10 no. 2 (2019) [10.3390/jfb10020024] [abs].

Affiliate Topics in Materials Research