Plasmonic Nanotexturing of Bioabsorbable Drug-Eluting Stents

这项拨款为设计、制造和测试一种用于治疗心血管疾病的新型聚合物支架提供资金。我们将使用一种新颖的纳米制造工艺来研究这些具有纳米级特征阵列的支架的纹理。假设是纳米尺度的纹理，不像微米或更大尺度的纹理，可以防止血栓，这将使心脏病患者享受延长寿命的重要可能性。在提出的工作中，等离子体将使用激光技术产生，并用于在聚合物支架上产生纳米级突起和纳米颗粒，重点是可扩展性问题，如尺寸均匀性、吞吐量、成本和可重复性。将该药物应用于纳米支架中，并评价其对药物储存、药物有效性和聚合物降解的影响。在项目的进展过程中，将有一名担任顾问角色的心脏病专家提供持续的投入，以实现高效安全的纳米药物洗脱支架。本研究结果将有助于预防晚期支架内血栓的发生。因此，该项目有可能减少心血管市场的医疗保健支出。所提出的过程也可以成为其他领域的使能技术，如半导体、有机太阳能电池和纳米机电系统（NEMS）。该项目还将为纳米级加工提供激光诱导等离子体的新知识，这代表了纳米制造的一个重要领域。拟议的工作将通过每年组织“医疗器械纳米制造创新”研讨会来影响教育，其成果将通过地方和国家医疗设计和制造会议以及爱荷华州博览会的展位展览传播，影响大量参观者。此外，这项工作将通过为9-12年级的学生开发一个名为“学习纳米技术”的探究模块，为爱荷华州立大学K-12年级的STEM教育做出贡献。

This grant provides funding to design, fabricate and test a new class of polymer stents for treating cardio-vascular disease. We will investigate the texturing of these stents with arrays of nano-scale features using a novel nanomanufacturing process. The hypothesis is that nano-scale texturing, unlike texturing at micron sizes or larger scales, will prevent blood clots that would allow cardio-patients enjoy the important possibilities of extended life. In the proposed work, plasmons will be generated using a laser technique and utilized to produce nano-scale protrusions and nanoparticles on the polymeric stents with a focus on scalability issues such as size uniformity, throughput, cost and repeatability. The drug will be applied to the nanotextured stents and its effects on the drug storage, drug effectiveness and polymer degradation will be evaluated. A cardiologist in the advisory role will provide continuous input during the progress of the project so as to achieve an efficient and safe nanotextured drug eluting stent.The results of this research will lead to the prevention of late stent blood clots. Thus, the project has potential to reduce the healthcare spending in the cardiovascular market. The proposed process could also be an enabling technology in other fields such as semiconductors, organic solar cells and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). The project will also offer new knowledge of laser-induced plasmonics for nano-scale processing that represents an important area in nanomanufacturing. The proposed work will impact education through an annual organization of the symposium "Nanomanufacturing Innovations in Medical Devices" with results disseminated through booth exhibits in local and national Medical Design and Manufacturing conferences and Iowa State Fair impacting a large number of visitors. In addition, the work will contribute to K-12 STEM education at Iowa State University by developing an inquiry module, "Learn Nanotechnology" for students in grades 9-12.