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）等离子体沉积薄膜和蚀刻操作在信息技术中取得了突出成就。这两种操作和第三种，聚合物的表面改性，现在也被用于许多其他行业。近年来，在实现常压（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）品种，用于这三种工艺类别。除了直接使用LP和AP等离子体外，也可以通过真空紫外（VUV, λ < 200 nm）光化学来实现这一过程，因为商用（基于等离子体的）VUV源可以有效地将电能转化为短波长的光子。（单能量）光化学相对于等离子体化学的一个潜在优势是，前者可能导致更“有针对性”的反应，所需产物的产量更高。在申请人实验室进行的上述所有类型（LP-, AP-, VUV-）的研究迄今已发表了400多篇论文，获得了二十多项专利，并向工业转让了许多技术。他现在提出了一项新颖的、高度跨学科的有机薄膜研究，用于生物医学“组织工程”应用。这种涂层必须在某些类型的化学功能上非常丰富，例如在伯胺中，它们必须牢固地粘附在各种基底材料上，必须抵抗大气中的“老化”和水（细胞培养）介质中的溶解，以及其他标准。最后，当然，它们首先必须从培养的细胞类型中引起所需的生物反应。后一个方面要求与任何特定子项目正在处理的细胞生物学和医学科学专家密切合作。在过去十年中，申请人的实验室发展了必要的合作网络，主要是与麦吉尔大学和蒙特里萨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.