David W. Grainger, Ph.D. is a full Professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University. He received his Ph.D. (Pharmaceutics) degree from the University of Utah in 1987 under the mentorship of Prof. Sung Wan Kim. Further training as a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow (AvH Stiftung) under Prof. Dr. Helmut Ringsdorf (University of Mainz, Germany) followed (1987-1989). Dr. Grainger then joined the faculty at the Oregon Graduate Institute (part of the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, OR) in 1989 where he began his research program and taught both biochemistry and biophysics, and was promoted early to tenure Associate Professor. He moved to Colorado State University, Department of Chemistry, in 1994, as Associate Professor of Chemistry. In 1996, he was tenured again, and then promoted early to Full Professor in 1999. Dr. Grainger was awarded a JSPS fellowship as a visiting professor in Tokyo, Japan (Prof. Okano, Tokyo Women’s Medical University) and in France (Prof. M. Josefowicz, Prof. V. Migonney, CNRS Laboratiore Biomaterieux aux Polymeres), Univ. Paris XIII (1997, 2003-2005). He has exhibited a strong commitment to excellence in educating students and professionals in undergraduate general chemistry and important aspects of materials chemistry in biological systems. This is manifested by several prominent teaching awards and educational distinctions awarded to Grainger in recent years, including the Colorado State University Alumni Association "Teacher of the Year", 2003, Elected, Who’s Who in Science Education, 2003, USWest/Qwest Faculty Education Excellence Award, 2000, College of Natural Sciences "Undergraduate Teacher of the Year", Colorado State University, 2000, Top Ten Finalist, Colorado State University Alumni Association "Teacher of the Year", 2000, and a long-standing professional short-course instructor in biomaterials for the AVS and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Dr. Grainger has used his diverse and broad training across pharmaceutics, chemical engineering, polymer and analytical chemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, and biotechnology to contribute to several fields important to materials in medicine, controlled drug delivery, and fundamental interactions of proteins and DNA with polymers. Importantly, he has continuously sought to direct this expertise across several different fields that employ these principles: pharmaceutics, biomedical devices, bioassays, biotechnology and protective films and coatings. His appointment as chemistry faculty position combined with his various research relationships in clinical fields with different collaborators has proven optimal to cross continuously between basic and applied fields and impact both industrial and academic thinking in his areas of endeavor. Specifically, Grainger has contributed to innovating fluorinated surface chemistry (NSF Young Investigator, DuPont and 3M awards) and the significance of their interactions in biological systems, delivery of proteins (Merck Research Fellowship), most recently recombinant antibody drugs, from polymer controlled release formulations in infection and cell receptor applications, new materials innovations in nanobiotechnology (endowed Pinkham lecturer on this topic, 2004), particularly in the area of new biosensing modalities (bioanalyte capture mechanism to sensor surfaces, NIH R01), mechanisms of cell signaling and inflammatory triggers in implanted polymer biomaterials (NIH R01, and chemometric limitations of new microarray assay formats for both DNA and immobilized antibody libraries (NIH R01. This effort is characterized by consistent development of new methods that use combinations of techniques drawn from several fields to innovate approaches to address and impact long-standing problems in biomolecule-surface interactions. This cross-cutting strategy has drawn substantial interest from both academic and industrial scientific efforts that seek solutions to problems in the areas of materials in biomedical systems, indicated by continuous extramural research support and over 100 invited lectureships to date.

In addition to active consulting with several prominent and start-up industrial biotechnology research efforts, Grainger consistently and actively participates in service and professional organizational and advising activities. He serves on the editorial boards of the prominent journals in the biomedical materials area, including Biomaterials (Associate editor), Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, and Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, reviewing 40-50 full manuscripts per year and organizing theme issues. Other professional service includes full membership on the NIH Surgery and Bioengineering Study Section, 2000-present, NIH P41 Research Resource Review panels (chair), 2003-2004, several other ad hoc NIH and NSF reviewing appointments, Scientific Advisory Board, Controlled Release Society, (2003-present), Scientific Advisory Board, Institute for Biomedical Science and Application (BMSA), Royal University of Groningen, The Netherlands, 2004-present, External Reviewer, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science, 2003, and Scientific Advisory Board, AO Research Foundation, Davos, Switzerland, 2004-present,

Grainger’s professional symposia organizational leadership in the field is extensive, including Scientific Program Chair, Controlled Release Society 31st Annual Symposium, 2004, Chair, Session Organizer, NIH BECON Symposium (Sensor Biocompatibility), July 2002, Fellow, Chair of NASA’s Biomaterials in Deep Space review panel, 2002, Chair, Gordon Conference on Biomaterials, Biocompatibility and Tissue Engineering, 2001, Scientific Advisory Board, Tissue Engineering/Regenerative Medicine conference, 2002-present, Program committee, Biointerface Division, AVS, 2002-present, and Pittcon (largest analytical chemistry meeting) Session Chair, 2004. Grainger also took an 18-month leave of absence to help found and direct a biotech start-up company (CEO, CSO, Gamma-A Technologies) focused on controlled release of therapeutic antibodies.

Dr. Grainger heads a laboratory of 12 persons, including undergraduates from several departments, graduate students from 3 programs and postdoctoral associates. Overall, Grainger represents unique expertise and unique resources directed at important, modern problems encountered when biomaterials, biotechnology and biomolecules are combined for clinical applications. Areas of particular interest include protein-materials stability with relevance to controlled release devices for new therapeutic antibodies, miniaturization technologies for rapid screening and detection using immobilized proteins and nucleic acids, and elucidation of molecular pathways for bacterial and cell interactions with implanted biomaterials.

Dr. Grainger is a Fellow and Vice-President-at-Large of the American Institute of Medical and Bioengineering (top 2% of bioengineers), 2000-present. He received a PhRMA Foundation Advanced Pre Doctoral Fellowship in Pharmaceutics in 1987.