Novel organic thin film biomaterials for tissue engineering

自20世纪60年代以来，通过使用“冷”(热力学非平衡)低压(LP)等离子体进行薄膜沉积和蚀刻操作在信息技术领域取得了显著的成就。这两个操作和第三个操作，聚合物表面改性，现在也被用于许多其他行业。最近，在实现大气压(AP)冷等离子体方面取得了很大进展，主要是介质阻挡放电(DBD)，用于这三种工艺类别。除了直接使用LP和AP等离子体外，还可以通过真空-紫外线(VUV，lambda&lt；200 nm)光化学来实现这类过程，因为商用(基于等离子体的)VUV源可以有效地将电能转换为短波长光子。与基于等离子体的光化学相比，(单能)光化学的一个潜在优势是，前者可能会导致更多的“靶向”反应，所需产品的产量更高。到目前为止，申请人实验室中所有类型(LP-、AP-、VUV-)的研究已经产生了400多篇被引用的出版物，20多项专利，并向行业转移了大量技术。他现在提议对用于生物医学“组织工程”应用的有机薄膜进行新颖的、高度跨学科的研究。这类涂层必须具有非常丰富的某些类型的化学功能，例如在伯胺中，它们必须与各种基材牢固结合，必须在大气中耐“老化”，在水(细胞培养)介质中耐溶解，以及其他标准。最后，当然，他们必须首先从正在培养的细胞类型(S)中引发所需的生物反应。后一方面要求与细胞、生物和医学领域的专家密切合作，这些领域在任何特定的分项目中都有涉及。在过去的十年里，申请者的实验室建立了所需的合作网络，主要是与麦吉尔大学和蒙特雷亚尔大学医学院的高级研究人员合作。

Deposition of thin films and etching operations via the use of "cold" (thermodynamically non-equilibrium) low-pressure (LP) plasmas achieved prominence in information technology since the 1960s. Those two operations and a third, surface modification of polymers, are now also being used in many other industries. Recently, there has been much progress in implementing atmospheric-pressure (AP) "cold" plasmas, mostly the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) variety, for those three process categories. Beside direct use of LP and AP plasmas, it is also possible to carry out such processes by vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV, lambda < 200 nm) photochemistry, since commercial (plasma-based) VUV sources can efficiently convert electrical energy into short-wavelength photons. A potential advantage of (mono-energetic) photo-chemistry over its plasma-based counterparts is that the former may result in more "targeted" reactions, with higher yields of the desired products. Research in the applicant's laboratory of all types (LP-, AP-, VUV-) above has so far resulted in well over 400 refereed publications, in more than two dozen patents, and in much technology transfer to industry. He now proposes novel, highly interdisciplinary research on thin organic films for use in bio-medical "tissue engineering" applications. Such coatings must be very rich in certain types of chemical functionalities, for example in primary amines, they must adhere strongly to various substrate materials, must resist "ageing" in atmosphere and dissolution in aqueous (cell-culture) media, among other criteria. Finally, of course, they must first and foremost elicit the desired bio-response from the cell-type(s) being cultured. This latter aspect calls for close collaboration with specialists in the cell-biological and medical sciences that are being addressed in any given sub-project. During the past ten years, the applicant's laboratory has developed the required network of collaborations, mostly with senior researchers in the medical faculties of McGill and Montréal universities.