Multifunctional biomaterials and biomimetic models for biomedical applications

根据世界卫生组织（WHO）的数据，全世界每年进行超过2.3亿次重大外科手术。这些手术涉及使用各种医疗工具、装置或植入物，例如导管、血管移植物和关节植入物。尽管它们普遍存在，但诸如凝块形成和感染等并发症与这些生物界面相关。除了病理并发症，缺乏组织类仿生特性以及合成植入物无法有效促进组织整合和组织再生是令人烦恼的，特别是对于永久性医疗植入物，如血管移植物。这些并发症延长了住院时间，延迟了治疗，阻碍了器械的性能，导致术后并发症，并给全球医疗保健系统带来了巨大负担。因此，了解生物和合成系统之间的复杂相互作用和开发新的生物界面具有上级性能是非常重要的。我的研究计划的长期目标是研究和深入了解生物材料和生物系统（生物界面）界面处发生的生理反应和相互作用的级联，以开发先进的生物材料，有效地解决与合成生物界面相关的并发症和局限性。基于我在创建抗凝剂和润滑剂注入/超疏水涂层方面的专业知识，我的目标是研究不同材料和制造方法的新组合，以开发具有上级生物相容性和仿生特性的多相生物材料。拟议研究计划的主要重点之一是将全憎性整合到天然和合成仿生水凝胶系统（例如基于细菌纳米纤维素（BNC）的水凝胶）中，并开发用于各种生物医学应用的新型多功能平台。这将通过追求三个综合的短期目标来实现：101（O 1）：开发具有超疏水性/全疏水性/注入润滑剂的扩散屏障的新型多相BNC水凝胶102（O2）：使注入润滑剂的多相BNC构建体具有生物功能特征，并创建同时表达排斥性和生物靶向特性的多功能BNC基质。目标3（O3）：开发具有可调机械和生物功能特性的多相、生物功能和血液相容性BNC人工血管移植物。我的研究计划代表了创造下一代血液相容性和生物功能生物材料和仿生模型的几个新颖性。我的研究计划的结果可以显着减少生物界面相关的并发症，并最终减轻加拿大医疗保健系统的经济负担。

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 230 million major surgical procedures are performed annually worldwide. These procedures involve utilizing various medical tools, devices or implants such as catheters, vascular grafts and joint implants. Despite their prevalence, complications such as clot formation and infection are associated with these biointerfaces. In addition to pathological complications, the lack of tissue-like biomimetic properties and the inability of synthetic implants to effectively promote tissue integration and tissue regeneration is troublesome, especially for permanent medical implants such as vascular grafts. These complications extend hospital stays, delay treatment, hinder the performance of the device, lead to post-operative complications and impose a great burden on the global healthcare system. Thus, understanding the complex interaction between the biological and synthetic systems and developing new biointerfaces with superior properties is of immense importance. The long-term objective of my research program is to study and acquire in-depth understanding about the cascade of physiological responses and interactions occurring at the interface of the biomaterial and biological systems (biointerface), in order to develop advanced biomaterials to effectively tackle the complications and limitations associated with synthetic biointerfaces. Building on my expertise in creating anticoagulant and lubricant-infused/superhydrophobic coatings, I aim to investigate new combinations of different materials and fabrication methods to develop multiphasic biomaterials with superior biocompatibility and biomimetic properties. One of the main focuses of the proposed research program is to integrate omniphobicity into natural and synthetic biomimetic hydrogel systems (e.g. bacterial nanocellulose (BNC)-based hydrogels) and develop novel multifunctional platforms for various biomedical applications. This will be achieved through the pursuit of three integrated short-term objectives: Objective1(O1): Developing novel multiphasic BNC-based hydrogels with superhydrophobic/ omniphobic/lubricant-infused diffusion barriers Objective2 (O2): Impregnating multiphasic lubricant-infused BNC constructs with biofunctional features and creating multifunctional BNC substrates that express simultaneous repellency and biotargeting properties. Objective 3 (O3): Developing multiphasic, biofunctional and hemocompatible BNC-based artificial vascular grafts with tunable mechanical and biofunctional properties. My research program represents several novelties in creating the next generation of hemocompatible and biofunctional biomaterials and biomimetic models. The outcomes of my research program could significantly decrease biointerface-associated complications and ultimately reduce the financial burden on the Canadian healthcare system.