Development of polymer biomaterials that respond to stimuli

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

With the aging population in Canada, there is a critical need for medical devices that effectively deliver therapeutics, regenerate tissue, and replace the function of failing organs. For the successful implementation of polymer biomaterial devices to meet these needs, polymers should be designed so they can be changed (optimized) over time by external stimuli or adapt to changes in their biological environment. For example, polymer devices designed to deliver drugs at rates that may be changed over time could provide optimized treatments to individuals. The proposed research will develop new polymers that can change in response to light because it is a non-invasive external stimulus, and new materials that bind or are triggered to change in response to proteins because proteins fluctuate with diseases.