Nicholas A. Chartrain
Nick graduated from Cornell University in 2013 with a Bachelor’s in Materials Science & Engineering. He has been involved in Additive Manufacturing research since 2009 when he began working with the Fab@Home desktop 3D printing device at Cornell’s Creative Machine Lab with Prof. Hod Lipson.
After joining the DREAMS Lab as a Ph.D. student in 2013, Nick worked at the intersection of materials, machines, and chemistry for Additive Manufacturing. He developed new resins for stereolithography and constructs new machines with advanced functionalities. Using a custom lab-built Microstereolithography system, Nick fabricated tissue scaffolds with designed geometries (e.g. pore size, shape, permeability) for use in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. He cultured cells on these scaffolds to understand the effects of scaffold geometry on cell response. In addition, Nick fabricated multi-material scaffolds that helped guide tissue growth and the generation of vasculature.
Nick’s work in Additive Manufacturing extends beyond tissue scaffolds. Through innovations in resin composition, synthetic photopolymers, and new machines, Nick, with the help of collaborators, has printed polyimides (Kapton), ionic liquids, biodegradable polyesters, natural polymers, ceramics, and composites. He has mentored 20 undergraduates participating in design teams or working in the lab as research assistants on projects ranging from machine building to cell culture.
Nick also spent three months with the Materials Team at Formlabs, a 3D printing startup that creates desktop Stereolithography machines. His primary responsibility was the development of print parameters for the Form 2 printer for seven different resins.
Nick was co-advised by Dr. Christopher B. Williams, the director of the DREAMS Lab, and Dr. Abby R. Whittington, who specializes in Biopolymers and Regenerative Medicine.
Nick earned his Ph.D. in 2019.
Chartrain, N. A., Williams, C. B., & Whittington, A. R. (2018). A Review on Fabricating Tissue Scaffolds using Vat Photopolymerization. Acta Biomaterialia.
Hegde, M., Meenakshisundaram, V., Chartrain, N. A., Sekhar, S., Tafti, D., Williams, C. B., & Long, T. E. (2017). 3D Printing All‐Aromatic Polyimides using Mask‐Projection Stereolithography: Processing the Nonprocessable. Advanced Materials, 29(31).
Chartrain, N. A., Whittington, A., Williams, C. (2016). Engineering Tissues with Bioprinting. Bioprocess International 14(10) 28-33.
Sirrine, J. M., Pekkanen, A. M., Nelson, A. M., Chartrain, N. A., Williams, C. B., & Long, T. E. (2015). 3D-Printable Biodegradable Polyester Tissue Scaffolds for Cell Adhesion. Australian Journal of Chemistry, 68(9), 1409-1414.
Chartrain, N. A., Vratsanos, M., Han, D.T., Sirrine, J.M., Pekkanen, A., Long, T.E., Whittington, A.R., Williams, C.B. (2016) Microstereolithography of Tissue Scaffolds Using a Biodegradable Photocurable Polyester. In International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium: Austin (1732-1748).
Schultz, A. R., Lambert, P. M., Chartrain, N. A., Ruohoniemi, D. M., Zhang, Z., Jangu, C., ... & Long, T. E. (2014). 3D Printing Phosphonium Ionic Liquid Networks with Mask Projection Microstereolithography. ACS Macro Letters, 3(11), 1205-1209.
P. Lambert, N. A. Chartrain, A. Schultz, S. Cooke, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. B. Williams, “Mask Projection Microstereolithography of Novel Biocompatible Polymers,” 25th International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, 4-6 August 2014, Austin, TX.
Gaudin, G., Van Den Daele, W., Chartrain, N. A., Riou, G., Veytizou, C., Radu, I., & Cristoloveanu, S. (2013). Physical and Electrical Properties of Thin Doped Silicon Films Obtained by Low Temperature Smart Cut and Solid Phase Epitaxy. ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 2(12), 534-538.
Lipton, J., Maccurdy, R., Boban, M., Chartrain, N. A., Withers III, L., Gangjee, N., ... & Lipson, H. (2012). Fab@Home Model 3: A More Robust, Cost effective and Accessible Open Hardware Fabrication Platform.
N. A. Chartrain, M. Vratsanos, D. Han, J. Sirrine, A. Pekkanen, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. Williams, Microstereolithography of Tissue Scaffolds Using a Biodegradable Photocurable Polyester, poster presented at the 3D Bioprinting: Physical and Chemical Processes Conference, 2-3 May 2017, Winston Salem, NC.
N. A. Chartrain, M. Vratsanos, D. Han, J. Sirrine, A. Pekkanen, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. Williams, Microstereolithography of Tissue Scaffolds Using a Biodegradable Photocurable Polyester and Other Novel Resins for Stereolithography, talk given at the Macromolecules Innovation Institute Technical Conference and Review, 10-12 October 2016, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, M. Vratsanos, N. Moon, A. Schultz, T. Long, C. Williams, Development and Characterization of Novel Phosphonium Ionic Liquids for Stereolithography and Electrochemical Applications, poster presented at the Macromolecules Innovation Institute Technical Conference and Review, 10-12 October 2016, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, M. Vratsanos, D. Han, J. Sirrine, A. Pekkanen, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. Williams, Characterization of Novel Photocurable and Biocompatible Molecules for Stereolithography and Tissue Engineering, poster presented at the Macromolecules Innovation Institute Technical Conference and Review, 10-12 October 2016, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, J. Sirrine, A. Pekkanen, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. Williams, Additive Manufacturing of Tissue Scaffolds Using Novel Biodegradable Photopolymers, poster presentation at the 12th National Graduate Research Polymer Conference, 19-22 June 2016, Akron, OH.
N. A. Chartrain, M. Price, A. Schultz, T. Long, C. Williams, A. Whittington, “Fabrication of Multi-Material Tissue Scaffolds via Additive Manufacturing,” poster presentation at the Society for Biomaterials 2015 Annual Meeting & Exposition, 15-18 April 2015, Charlotte, NC.
N. A. Chartrain, A. Schultz, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. Williams, “From Molecules to Manufacturing: Developing Novel Polymers for Additive Manufacturing”, poster presentation at the Graduate Student Assembly 31st Annual Research Symposium, 25 March 2015, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, A. Schultz, T. Long, A. Whittington, C. Williams, “From Molecules to Manufacturing: Developing Novel Polymers for Additive Manufacturing”, poster presentation at the Virginia Tech Interdisciplinary Research Symposium, 26 February 2015, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, A. Whittington, C. Williams, “From Molecules to Manufacturing: Designing Novel Polymers for Additive Manufacturing”, talk given at the Virginia Tech Materials Science & Engineering Department Seminar, 10 April 2015, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, A. Whittington, C. Williams, “From Molecules to Manufacturing: Designing Novel Polymers for Additive Manufacturing”, talk given at the Macromolecules and Interfaces Institute Technical Conference & Review, 20 April 2015, Blacksburg, VA.
N. A. Chartrain, P. Lambert, A. Schultz, T. Long, C. Williams, A. Whittington, “Mask Projection Microstereolithography of Novel Biocompatible Polymers,” poster presentation at the 16th Annual Conference of the North Carolina Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society, 13 October 2014, Durham, NC.
N. A. Chartrain, J. Lipton, H. Lipson, “Solid Freeform Fabrication of Metals and Glass with the Fab@Home,” poster presentation at the 22nd International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, 8-10 August 2011, Austin, TX.