Design of adhesive nanomaterials for tissue repair

全球每年进行3.1亿次大手术，而且这一数字还在持续增长。目前的手术缝合方法包括使用侵入性技术，如缝合线或订书钉，这往往导致继发性组织损伤和微生物感染。为了解决这些缺点，生物粘合剂作为一种有效的伤口密封解决方案出现了，目前占据了380亿美元的市场份额。纳米技术已成为设计黏附生物材料的新工具。最近的进展表明，二氧化硅纳米颗粒能够通过在其表面吸附蛋白质形成粘合层，将生物组织粘合在一起。虽然这种方法提供了一个基本的概念证明，但纳米颗粒胶迄今为止仅限于无机材料，其性质（形状、大小和功能）难以控制。相比之下，有机纳米颗粒可以很容易地进行操作，以实现更广泛的表面功能、形态和尺寸，因此，通过调整和定制其粘合性能的能力，有望在组织粘合剂应用中取得重大进展。我的愿景是开发新的有机纳米材料，为调整组织的粘附强度提供更丰富和通用的平台，使该领域发生重大变化。这项研究将对纳米颗粒性能和粘附行为之间的结构-活性关系提供重要的基础理解，这样做将充分实现纳米结构作为组织粘合剂的潜力。

Globally, 310 million major surgeries are performed each year, with the number continuing to grow. Current surgical closure methods involve the use of invasive techniques such as sutures or staples, which often result in secondary tissue damage and microbial infection. To address these shortcomings, biological adhesives have emerged as an effective wound sealing solution, currently constituting a market share of $38 billion. Nanotechnology has emerged as a new tool for the design of adhesive biomaterials. Recent advances have shown that silica nanoparticles are able to glue biological tissue together by forming an adhesive layer through adsorption of proteins onto their surfaces. While this approach provides a fundamental proof of concept, nanoparticle glues are so far limited to inorganic materials, the properties (shape, size, and functionality) of which are difficult to control. In contrast, organic nanoparticles can be readily manipulated to achieve a wider range of surface functionality, morphologies, and dimensions, and hence are anticipated to enable major advances in tissue adhesive applications through the ability to tune and tailor their adhesive properties.My vision is to develop new organic nanomaterials that will provide a much richer and versatile platform for tuning the adhesive strength to tissues, enabling a step change in the field. This research will deliver important fundamental understanding of the structure-activity relationship between nanoparticle properties and adhesive behaviour and in doing so it will fully realise the potential of nanostructures as tissue adhesives.