Nicholas Sears

Nicholas Sears, PhD

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Academic Institute
Houston Methodist


EnMed


Biography

Dr. Sears is a biomedical engineer and educator with expertise 3D printing, device design, bioreactors, and robotics. He has led research projects with a focus on tissue engineering, biomanufacturing, microfluidics, biodegradable polymers.

He is working with Houston Methodist and Texas A&M's new EnMed program to incorporate the engineering and entrepreneurial skills to create a new generation of "physicianeers" who have the skills to innovate and invent new devices to solve problems in medicine.

Publications

Rethinking Teaching Team-Based Learning: The Challenges and Strategies for Medical Education in a Pandemic
Li, Y, Sears, NA, Murray, IVJ & Yadav, KK 2021, , AERA Open, vol. 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211067207

Conditioning of 3D Printed Nanoengineered Ionic–Covalent Entanglement Scaffolds with iP-hMSCs Derived Matrix
Sears, C, Mondragon, E, Richards, ZI, Sears, N, Chimene, D, McNeill, EP, Gregory, CA, Gaharwar, AK & Kaunas, R 2020, , Advanced Healthcare Materials, vol. 9, no. 15, 1901580, pp. e1901580. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.201901580

Porous PolyHIPE microspheres for protein delivery from an injectable bone graft
Whitely, M, Rodriguez-Rivera, G, Waldron, C, Mohiuddin, S, Cereceres, S, Sears, N, Ray, N & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2019, , Acta Biomaterialia, vol. 93, pp. 169-179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2019.01.044

Hydrocolloid Inks for 3D Printing of Porous Hydrogels
Sears, NA, Wilems, TS, Gold, KA, Lan, Z, Cereceres, SN, Dhavalikar, PS, Foudazi, R & Cosgriff-Hernandez, EM 2019, , Advanced Materials Technologies, vol. 4, no. 2, 1800343. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.201800343

Winner of the society for biomaterials student award in the Ph.D. category for the annual meeting of the society for biomaterials, april 11–14, 2018, Atlanta, GA: Development of a bimodal, in situ crosslinking method to achieve multifactor release from electrospun gelatin
Kishan, A, Walker, T, Sears, N, Wilems, T & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2018, , Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part A, vol. 106, no. 5, pp. 1155-1164. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.36342

Tendon and Ligament Engineering
Sears, N, Touchet, T, Benhardt, H & Cosgriff-Hernández, E 2018, . in Molecular, Cellular, and Tissue Engineering. CRC Press, pp. 67-1-67-20.

Fabrication of biomimetic bone grafts with multi-material 3D printing
Sears, N, Dhavalikar, P, Whitely, M & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2017, , Biofabrication, vol. 9, no. 2, 025020. https://doi.org/10.1088/1758-5090/aa7077

A Review of Three-Dimensional Printing in Tissue Engineering
Sears, NA, Seshadri, DR, Dhavalikar, PS & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2016, , Tissue Engineering - Part B: Reviews, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 298-310. https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.teb.2015.0464

Emulsion Inks for 3D Printing of High Porosity Materials
Sears, NA, Dhavalikar, PS & Cosgriff-Hernandez, EM 2016, , Macromolecular rapid communications, vol. 37, no. 16, pp. 1369-1374. https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201600236

Comparison of clinical explants and accelerated hydrolytic aging to improve biostability assessment of silicone-based polyurethanes
Cosgriff-Hernandez, E, Tkatchouk, E, Touchet, T, Sears, N, Kishan, A, Jenney, C, Padsalgikar, AD & Chen, E 2016, , Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part A, vol. 104, no. 7, pp. 1805-1816. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.35709

Osteoinductive PolyHIPE Foams as Injectable Bone Grafts
Robinson, JL, McEnery, MAP, Pearce, H, Whitely, ME, Munoz-Pinto, DJ, Hahn, MS, Li, H, Sears, NA & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2016, , Tissue Engineering - Part A, vol. 22, no. 5-6, pp. 403-414. https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.tea.2015.0370

Hybrid polyurea elastomers with enzymatic degradation and tunable mechanical properties
Sears, NA, Pena-Galea, G, Cereceres, SN & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2016, , Journal of Tissue Engineering, vol. 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041731416679363

Bioactive nanoengineered hydrogels for bone tissue engineering: A growth-factor-free approach
Xavier, JR, Thakur, T, Desai, P, Jaiswal, MK, Sears, N, Cosgriff-Hernandez, E, Kaunas, R & Gaharwar, AK 2015, , ACS Nano, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 3109-3118. https://doi.org/10.1021/nn507488s

Tendon and ligament engineering
Sears, N, Touchet, T, Benhardt, H & Cosgriff-Hernández, E 2012, . in Tissue Engineering: Principles and Practices. CRC Press, pp. 29-1-29-20. https://doi.org/10.1201/b13978

Injectable polyHIPEs as high-porosity bone grafts
Moglia, RS, Holm, JL, Sears, NA, Wilson, CJ, Harrison, DM & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2011, , Biomacromolecules, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 3621-3628. https://doi.org/10.1021/bm2008839

Synthesis of Collagenase-Sensitive Polyureas for Ligament Tissue Engineering
Benhardt, H, Sears, N, Touchet, T & Cosgriff-Hernandez, E 2011, , Macromolecular Bioscience, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 1020-1030. https://doi.org/10.1002/mabi.201100063