Liisa Tiina Kuhn
Associate Professor
- :860-679-3922
Fax: 860-679-1370
Employment History
Industry Positions
1984-86 | Engineer. Signature Materials and Composite Design, General Dynamics, San Diego, CA. Developed stealth materials to reduce radar cross-sections of missile components. |
1994-1997 | Consulting Director of Development. Bio-Crystals Corporation, Boston, MA, specializing in orthopedic applications of calcium phosphate biomaterials. Directed efforts on manufacturing scale up and preclinical testing of a novel bone substitute material. |
1998-2000 | Co-owner/co-founder of NaturApatites Co., Inc., Boston, MA, specializing in orthopedic and oncology applications of calcium phosphate biomaterials. Directed two programs of preclinical studies (1) localized delivery of chemotherapy and (2) delivery of osteogenic agents from composite biomaterial scaffolds. NaturApatites Co. was acquired by ETEX Corp. in 2000. |
2000-2002 | Director, Orthopaedics Product Development (2001-2002). Assistant Director, Oncology Development (2000 – 2001). ETEX Corporation, Cambridge, MA. Supervised technical staff conducting preclinical studies and product development activities in the area of orthobiologics specifically spinal fusion and long bone repair, generation of design control documentation, interfacing with quality and regulatory departments. |
Academic Positions
1986-1991 | Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant. Materials Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA. Thesis Research: Theoretical mechanics modeling of powder consolidation. Developed constitutive law mathematical equations for predicting optimal processing cycles for components made of powdered materials. Performed finite element modeling with ABAQUS. |
1992-1994 | Research Associate. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. Biomineralization experiments with calcium carbonate. Characterization and testing of natural and biomimetic ceramic structures including eggshells and seashells. |
1994-2002 | Research Associate/Instructor: Joint appointee in Skeletal Disorders and Rehabilitation, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Optimized protocols for plasma and solution chemical extraction of biologically produced calcium phosphate crystals from bone and mineralized cell culture matrix. Characterized the mineral phase in bone and mineralized cell cultures characterization using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. |
2002-present | Associate Professor. Center for Regenerative Medicine and Skeletal Development, Reconstructive Sciences Department. School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT. Research areas: local delivery of therapeutics from biomaterial scaffolds or nanoparticles. Preclinical testing of dental implant systems and anticancer therapies. Derivation of progenitor cells for bone tissue engineering from human pluripotent stem cells. Developing new growth factor based therapeutics for bone repair in the elderly. |
2012-2013 | Visiting Associate Professor. French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), U1109, Department of Osteoarticular and Dental Regenerative Nanomedicine, Faculté de Medicine, University of Strasbourg; Strasbourg, France. |
Professional Memberships
1994 –present | American Society of Testing and Materials |
1995 | American Ceramic Society |
1996 | The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society |
1996 –present | The Society For Biomaterials |
2004-2008 | American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists |
2004-2008 | Controlled Release Society |
Awards, Honors
1998 | Young Investigators Travel Award. 6th Int. Conference on the Chemistry and Biology of Mineralized Tissues in Vittel, France. |
2000 | Scientific American Award from the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). |
2002 | Selected as Overall Program Chair of the Annual Meeting of the Society For Biomaterials. This is the premier biomaterials meeting in the United States and is attended by approximately 3000 scientists from both the US and abroad. Coordinated the entire scientific program |
2004-2011 | Elected General Interest Vice-Chair of Main Committee F04 Medical and Surgical Materials and Devices, American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM). |
2006 | Patrick Liang Award from the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) for significant and outstanding contributions in the field of medical and surgical devices |
2009 | Winner of the Women of Innovation Award for Academic Innovation and Leadership from the Connecticut Technology Council. |
2009-2011 | Elected Chair of the Drug Delivery Special Interest Group of the Society For Biomaterials. |
2014 | Award of Merit from the American Society of Testing and Materials International (ASTM) – highest ASTM award for distinguished service and outstanding participation with accompanying honorary title of Fellow. |
Teaching Activites
School of Dental Medicine Courses, University of Connecticut Health Center
2003 | Lecturer. DENT 440, Integrating Biotechnology with Clinical Dentistry. Course Director: E. Rossomando. |
2004 | Lecturer. DENT 433. Connective Tissue Biology. Course Director: B. Oliver |
2005,2007 | Lecturer. DENT 440. Biodontics. Course Director: E. Rossomando |
2009 | Lecturer. DENT 5440. Integrating Bioscience with Clinical Dentistry. Course Director: E. Rossomando |
2005-2008 | Faculty judge of Business Plans by dental residents in Biodontics summer course. Course Director: E. Rossomando. |
2009-2012 | Faculty facilitator. D400-720 Critical Thinking in Dentistry, Correlated Dental 2014 Problem Solving. Course Director: M. Goupil. Two semester course. |
Associate Professor