Bertozzi filed U.S. Patent 6,552,103 for biomimetic hydrogel materials, an early example of her translational biomaterials research.
On December 5, 2000, Carolyn Bertozzi filed a patent application for "Biomimetic hydrogel materials" (later issued as US Patent 6,552,103 B1). This patent reflected her early work developing synthetic materials designed to mimic biological environments, a precursor line of research to her later, more famous work in bioorthogonal chemistry.
Hydrogels are water-swollen polymer networks with wide applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and biomedical devices. Bertozzi's contribution to this field demonstrated her characteristic approach of bridging fundamental chemistry with practical, translatable biomedical applications—a hallmark that would define her entire career and eventually lead to more than 100 U.S. patents.
This filing represents one of the earliest documented pieces of her substantial patent portfolio, illustrating that her inventive output began well before her most famous bioorthogonal chemistry discoveries were patented in the mid-2000s. It underscores the depth and breadth of her contributions to applied chemistry beyond her celebrated basic-science achievements.
The patent was eventually granted, becoming part of the intellectual property record documenting Bertozzi's four-decade career as one of the most prolific chemist-inventors of her generation, later recognized formally by the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2017.