Post Doctoral Research Fellow, BioEngineering, Charlotte

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute are recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to lead studies related to the prevention and treatment of infection following severe trauma. Infection after trauma-induced bone fractures are common and disabling, despite decades of prevention efforts. Antibiotic coated implants are a promising potential strategy to reduce infection rates, but their effects on host cell attachment, bacterial colonization, and construct mechanics are not well characterized, limiting their widespread adoption. The postdoctoral researcher will lead studies characterizing coated implants across two complementary domains: the biologic interface (host cell response against bacterial colonization) and the biomechanical/biomaterials interface (how coatings affect implant material properties and mechanics). These pre-clinical studies will be conducted in parallel with an ongoing prospe