Advanced Materials
Advanced Materials
5 years ago

Structuring of Hydrogels across Multiple Length Scales for Biomedical Applications

Structuring of Hydrogels across Multiple Length Scales for Biomedical Applications
Liam M. Grover, Maryam Esmaeli, Martyn Snow, Simon W. Jones, James Holton, Britt ter Horst, Richard L. Williams, Alan M. Smith, Rajpal Nandra, Richard J. A. Moakes, Naiem Moiemen, Lisa J. Hill, Gurpreet Chouhan, Megan E. Cooke
The development of new materials for clinical use is limited by an onerous regulatory framework, which means that taking a completely new material into the clinic can make translation economically unfeasible. One way to get around this issue is to structure materials that are already approved by the regulator, such that they exhibit very distinct physical properties and can be used in a broader range of clinical applications. Here, the focus is on the structuring of soft materials at multiple length scales by modifying processing conditions. By applying shear to newly forming materials, it is possible to trigger molecular reorganization of polymer chains, such that they aggregate to form particles and ribbon-like structures. These structures then weakly interact at zero shear forming a solid-like material. The resulting self-healing network is of particular use for a range of different biomedical applications. How these materials are used to allow the delivery of therapeutic entities (cells and proteins) and as a support for additive layer manufacturing of larger-scale tissue constructs is discussed. This technology enables the development of a range of novel materials and structures for tissue augmentation and regeneration. Structured soft materials have the potential to revolutionize regenerative medicine. By imparting shear during processing, it is possible to take the small number of materials approved by medical regulators and create self-healing polymeric structures. How so-called fluid gels can facilitate the delivery of cells and proteins and enable additive layer manufacturing of complex biological structures is discussed.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201705013

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.