Ratner was born in 1947 in New York and in 1967 earned a
BS degree in
chemistry from
Brooklyn College. Five years later, he earned his
PhD from the
Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn with a thesis in the field of
polymer chemistry. He then worked as a
postgraduate student at the department of chemical engineering of the
University of Washington before becoming a research assistant professor in 1975. He became a research associate professor four years later and an associate professor in 1984. From 1985 to 1996 he was director of the
National ESCA and Surface Analysis Center for Biomedical Problems (NESAC / BIO), a research and service facility for surface analysis at the University of Washington . Since 1996 he has led the
National Science Foundation-funded Research Center for Biomaterials at the University of Washington (University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials, or
UWEB). His research interests include the synthesis, modification and characterization of material surfaces for medical applications,
Tissue Engineering and its application in the field of
regenerative medicine, the synthesis and characterization of polymeric
biomaterial ien and processes of the
healing and
inflammation associated with
implants. He is co-author of over 300
scientific publications and co-editor of the 2004 second edition of the standard work "Biomaterials Science. An Introduction to Materials in Medicine". The
International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering, the World Federation of Societies for biomaterial science, awarded him the title of
1996 Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering. Ratner was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering in 2002 for contributions to the understanding of the surface interactions of biological molecules and cells with medical implants. == Works (selection) ==