SBIR Phase I: Zwitterion self-assembly during evaporation process correlated to thin film mechanical function

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是有效地治疗皮肤撕裂，当管理不善时，很容易成为复杂的慢性伤口，涉及感染，疼痛和伤口愈合延迟，并对个人和护理机构造成健康和经济负担。皮肤撕裂损伤每年至少影响190万住院患者，并且在高风险类别，老年人和新生儿中复发的可能性很高。 虽然经常被低估，但文献表明皮肤撕裂的患病率与压力损伤相似。在美国长期护理机构中，患病率为20%，皮肤撕裂主要发生在日常生活中的手臂（60%）和腿部（40%）。这项研究是为了提供一种皮肤撕裂治疗，需要更少的护理时间，减少疼痛，并提高愈合时间，从而提高患者的生活质量和治疗成本节约。 据估计，美国皮肤撕裂治疗市场为6.46亿美元/年，其中44%（2.85亿美元/年）来自疗养院、伤口护理诊所和家庭健康。通过这项研究开发的创新化学可以应用于其他医疗器械，分离膜和涂层/薄膜，以提供机械强度，防污或尺寸排阻分离。拟议的项目是研究可以创建含两性离子的聚合物的前提，该聚合物保留表皮样膜特性用于伤口愈合，并在蒸发时表现出薄膜的机械强度（例如，萨兰™包裹状）。 这些智力挑战性的目标中的每一个都是拟议的研发所要解决的技术障碍。研究结果将指导皮肤撕裂治疗产品的研究和后续开发。 第一阶段的研究重点是合成和表征这类独特的含有两性离子的成膜共聚物-具体目标是合成两性离子聚合物，表征聚合物，确定机械性能并将形态与机械性能相关联。本研究为高分子合成、两性自组装的掩蔽以及溶剂挥发过程中两性自组装参数的确定提供了重要的可行性数据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to effectively treat skin tears, which when mismanaged, have a high propensity to become complex and chronic wounds involving infection, pain and delayed wound healing and impose health and financial burdens on individuals and care agencies. Skin tear injury effects at least 1.9 million institutionalized patients yearly and has a high probability to reoccur in high-risk categories, elderly and neonates. Though frequently under-reported, the literature suggests skin tears have a prevalence that is similar to pressure injuries. In USA long term care settings, the prevalence rate is 20% with skin tears principally on arms (60%) and legs (40%) occurring during daily routines. This research is to provide a skin tear treatment that requires less nursing time, reduces pain, and improves healing times resulting in improved patient quality of life and treatment cost savings. The estimated USA market for skin tear treatment is $646 million/year with 44% ($285 million/year) coming from nursing homes, wound care clinics and home health. The innovative chemistry developed through this research could be applied to other medical devices, separation membranes, and coatings/films to provide mechanical strength, anti-fouling, or size exclusion separation.The proposed project is to investigate the premise that zwitterion-containing polymers can be created that retain epidermal-like membrane properties for wound healing and demonstrate mechanical strength when evaporated as thin films (e.g., Saran™ wrap-like). Each of these intellectually challenging goals is a technical hurdle to be addressed by the proposed R&D. The research findings are to direct the research for and subsequent development of a skin tear treatment product. The Phase I research focus is to synthesize and characterize this unique class of film-forming copolymers that contain zwitterions - with specific objectives to synthesize zwitterionic polymers, characterize polymers, determine mechanical properties and correlate morphology to mechanical properties. This research is to provide vital feasibility data for polymer synthesis, masking of zwitterion self-assembly, and zwitterion self-assembly parameters during solvent evaporation to form a strong polymer film. The resulting platform chemistry and body of knowledge is anticipated to be translated into a wound care product for skin tear treatment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.