Development of Functional Polymers and Surfaces as Bioactive Biomaterials

生物材料的进步对现代医学产生了巨大的影响。新疗法、器官和组织替代的新材料的设计和开发影响了数百万人的健康。合成聚合物在许多生物医学应用中发挥了关键作用，并广泛应用于设备、植入物、隐形眼镜、血管移植物和支架、牙科材料和药物输送。容易获得智能和可降解材料对于开发新的药物输送系统和智能设备至关重要。尽管合成材料有助于治疗许多医疗疾病，但在生物相容性、功能性和生物降解性方面存在重大问题，因为这些材料中的大多数都不是专门为其预期的医疗用途而设计的。在这项研究计划中，我们正在通过产生用于生物医学的新型聚合物结构和表面，以及这些新的合成结构如何与生物系统相互作用来解决这些挑战。我的研究计划的长期目标是开发工具包，以利用聚合物化学和聚合物材料来满足尚未满足的临床需求。*该计划的主要目标是：*1.具有明确降解和生物兼容性的支链聚酮和聚甘油的研究。*2.开发新型肝素中和剂和肝素传感器。*3.开发用于免疫调节应用的新型聚合物和表面结构。*4.通过新的相互作用机制开发细胞-粘附性生物材料。*主题是开发和理解用作生物材料和设备的先进聚合物。我们预计，这里提出的化学和材料将为生物可降解聚合物、药物输送系统和生物医学设备的设计提供新的方向。*培训潜力：我目前正在培训化学和病理学系的8名博士和4名理学硕士学生。建议的研究是培养化学、工程和材料背景的学生的理想选择。因此，我请求在未来五年为3名博士生和1名理科硕士学生提供支持，以便在高度合作的环境中培训他们。拟议的项目提供了丰富的培训机会，以了解大分子的性质，以及合成材料与生物系统的相互作用。*意义和影响：世界范围内对生物医学和设备应用的新型可生物降解聚合物和新型材料的需求。该项目开发的知识和技术将在智能设备、药物输送、植入物和组织工程中有广泛的应用。我们预计所描述的计划将在聚合物生物材料方面产生新的方向，特别是开发新的生物材料和与血液接触的生物材料的应用。

The advancement in biomaterials has enormous impact on modern medicine. The design and development of novel therapeutics, novel materials for organs and tissue replacement influenced the health of millions of people. Synthetic polymers have played critical roles in the success of many biomedical applications and are widely used in devices, implants, contact lenses, vascular grafts and stents, dental materials and in drug delivery. Easy access to smart and degradable materials is critical to the development of new drug delivery systems and smart devices. Although synthetic materials helped to treat many medical conditions, significant problems exist in terms of their biocompatibility, functionality and biodegradation as most of these materials are not specifically designed for its intended medical use. In this research program, we are addressing these challenges by generating novel polymeric structures and surfaces for biomedical use, and how these new synthetic structures interact with the biological system. The long term objective of my research program is to develop tool kits to address unmet clinical needs utilizing polymer chemistry and polymeric materials.*******Primary Objectives of this Program are:*******1. Investigation on branched polyketals and polyglycerols with defined degradation and biocompatibility.****2. Development of novel heparin neutralizing agents and heparin sensors.****3. Development of novel polymers and surface structures for immunomodulation applications.****4. Development of cell-adhesive biomaterials via a novel interaction mechanism.*******The connecting theme is the development and understanding of advanced polymers for its use as biomaterials and devices. We anticipate that the chemistry and materials proposed here will provide new directions in the design of biodegradable polymers, drug delivery systems and biomedical devices.*******Training Potential: I am currently training 8 PhD and 4 M.Sc students from the Departments of Chemistry and Pathology. The proposed research is ideal for training students from Chemistry, Engineering and Materials background. Thus I am requesting the support for 3 PhD students and 1 M.Sc student for the next five years to train them in a highly collaborative environment. The proposed projects provide rich training opportunities to understand macromolecular properties, and the interaction of synthetic materials with biological systems.*******Significance and Impact: There is a worldwide need for novel biodegradable polymers and novel materials for biomedical and device applications. The developed knowledge and technologies in this project will have wide applications in smart devices, drug delivery, implants and tissue- engineering. We anticipate that the described program will generate new directions in polymeric biomaterials, especially development of novel biomaterials and applications related to blood contacting biomaterials.*********