Superhydrophobic and icephobic materials for biomedical engineering applications

这份联盟国际催化剂资助申请概述了我们将西蒙弗雷泽大学（SFU）最近开发的超疏水和疏冰材料用于国立台湾大学（NTU）探索的先进生物医学工程应用的倡议。特别是，我们的目标是优化低温微针的制造，用于通过皮肤渗透给药和细胞移植。低温微针是最近发展起来的新一代微针技术，它可以以微创的方式在皮内输送活细胞或药物。低温微针从专门设计制造的聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）微模具上分离时，要解决的问题是如何避免低温微针的损坏。在过去的十年中，我们通过非常规的硅烷化反应在制造超疏水材料/衬底方面做出了重大贡献，用于制造更高效的微流控生物芯片和其他工业应用。该计划的主要目标是将超疏水和疏冰材料引入到低温微针成型过程中，以帮助微针形成和卸载，在微针用于制造低温微针之前，设计微模具的表面组成和纳米级结构。从更广泛的角度来看，该项目将SFU（化学系和4D实验室）的先进材料研究与NTU（生物医学工程学院）的生物医学工程研究结合起来；这种跨学科合作的建立不仅为塑造新材料和设备的生物医学应用开辟了新的途径，而且为来自不同文化、学科和教育状况的学员提供了独特的机会，为他们未来在全国卫生保健和医疗机构的职业生涯积累经验和技能。

This Alliance International Catalyst grant application outlines our initiative to employ the superhydrophobic and icephobic materials developed lately at Simon Fraser University (SFU) for advanced biomedical engineering applications explored at National Taiwan University (NTU). Particularly, we are aiming at optimized manufacture of cryomicroneedles for drug delivery and cell transplantation through skin penetration. Cryomicroneedle is a new generation of microneedle technology developed recently that allows the intradermal delivery of living cells or drugs in a minimally invasive manner. The problem to be solved is to avoid the damage when detaching the cryomicroneedles from the specially designed and fabricated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micromolds. In the past decade, we have made significant contributions in creating superhydrophobic materials/substrates via unconventional silanization reactions for the fabrication of more efficient microfluidic biochips and other industrial applications. The main objective of this initiative is to introduce superhydrophobic and icephobic materials to the cryomicroneedle molding process to help the microneedle formation and unloading, to engineer the surface composition and nanoscale structure of the micromolds prior to their use in making cryomicroneedles. From a broader viewpoint, this project interfaces advanced materials research at SFU (Chemistry Department and 4D Labs) and biomedical engineering studies at NTU (College of Biomedical Engineering); the establishment of such an interdisciplinary collaboration not only leads to new avenues to shape the biomedical applications of new materials and devices, but also offer unique opportunities for trainees from varied culture, discipline, and education status to gain experience and skills for their future careers in health care and medical settings nationwide.