Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels for Biomedical ApplicationsBurdick, Jason A.; Prestwich, Glenn D.
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201003963pmid: 21394792
Hyaluronic acid (HA), an immunoneutral polysaccharide that is ubiquitous in the human body, is crucial for many cellular and tissue functions and has been in clinical use for over thirty years. When chemically modified, HA can be transformed into many physical forms—viscoelastic solutions, soft or stiff hydrogels, electrospun fibers, non‐woven meshes, macroporous and fibrillar sponges, flexible sheets, and nanoparticulate fluids—for use in a range of preclinical and clinical settings. Many of these forms are derived from the chemical crosslinking of pendant reactive groups by addition/condensation chemistry or by radical polymerization. Clinical products for cell therapy and regenerative medicine require crosslinking chemistry that is compatible with the encapsulation of cells and injection into tissues. Moreover, an injectable clinical biomaterial must meet marketing, regulatory, and financial constraints to provide affordable products that can be approved, deployed to the clinic, and used by physicians. Many HA‐derived hydrogels meet these criteria, and can deliver cells and therapeutic agents for tissue repair and regeneration. This progress report covers both basic concepts and recent advances in the development of HA‐based hydrogels for biomedical applications.
Nanomaterials: Applications in Cancer Imaging and TherapyBarreto, José A.; O’Malley, William; Kubeil, Manja; Graham, Bim; Stephan, Holger; Spiccia, Leone
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201100140pmid: 21433100
The application of nanomaterials (NMs) in biomedicine is increasing rapidly and offers excellent prospects for the development of new non‐invasive strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this review, we provide a brief description of cancer pathology and the characteristics that are important for tumor‐targeted NM design, followed by an overview of the different types of NMs explored to date, covering synthetic aspects and approaches explored for their application in unimodal and multimodal imaging, diagnosis and therapy. Significant synthetic advances now allow for the preparation of NMs with highly controlled geometry, surface charge, physicochemical properties, and the decoration of their surfaces with polymers and bioactive molecules in order to improve biocompatibility and to achieve active targeting. This is stimulating the development of a diverse range of nanometer‐sized objects that can recognize cancer tissue, enabling visualization of tumors, delivery of anti‐cancer drugs and/or the destruction of tumors by different therapeutic techniques.
MICROFLUIDICS: Synthesis of Size‐Tunable Polymeric Nanoparticles Enabled by 3D Hydrodynamic Flow Focusing in Single‐Layer Microchannels (Adv. Mater. 12/2011)Rhee, Minsoung; Valencia, Pedro M.; Rodriguez, Maria I.; Langer, Robert; Farokhzad, Omid C.; Karnik, Rohit
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201190043
Robust microfluidic synthesis of polymer nanoparticles based on nanoprecipitation is reported by Omid C. Farokhzad, Rohit Karnik, and co‐workers on p. H79. 3D hydrodynamic flow focusing, realized by constructing three sequential inlets for vertical focusing followed by a conventional cross junction for horizontal focusing, isolates the polymer precursors from the channelwalls, both vertically and horizontally.
Cancer Research: Nanomaterials: Applications in Cancer Imaging and Therapy (Adv. Mater. 12/2011)Barreto, José A.; O’Malley, William; Kubeil, Manja; Graham, Bim; Stephan, Holger; Spiccia, Leone
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201190041
The application of nanomaterials (NMs) in biomedicine is increasing rapidly and offers excellent prospects for the development of new non‐invasive strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this review, we provide a brief description of cancer pathology and the characteristics that are important for tumor‐targeted NM design, followed by an overview of the different types of NMs explored to date, covering synthetic aspects and approaches explored for their application in unimodal and multimodal imaging, diagnosis and therapy. Significant synthetic advances now allow for the preparation of NMs with highly controlled geometry, surface charge, physicochemical properties, and the decoration of their surfaces with polymers and bioactive molecules in order to improve biocompatibility and to achieve active targeting. This is stimulating the development of a diverse range of nanometer‐sized objects that can recognize cancer tissue, enabling visualization of tumors, delivery of anti‐cancer drugs and/or the destruction of tumors by different therapeutic techniques.
Biomimetic Smart Interface Materials for Biological ApplicationsSun, Taolei; Qing, Guangyan
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201004326pmid: 21433103
Controlling the surface chemical and physical properties of materials and modulating the interfacial behaviors of biological entities, e.g., cells and biomolecules, are central tasks in the study of biomaterials. In this context, smart polymer interface materials have recently attracted much interest in biorelated applications and have broad prospects due to the excellent controllability of their surface properties by external stimuli. Among such materials, poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) and its copolymer films are especially attractive due to their reversible hydrogen‐bonding‐mediated reversible phase transition, which mimics natural biological processes. This platform is promising for tuning surface properties or to introduce novel biofunctionalities via copolymerization with various functional units and/or combination with other materials. Important progress in this field in recent years is highlighted.
A Novel Family of Biodegradable Poly(ester amide) ElastomersCheng, Hao; Hill, Paulina S.; Siegwart, Daniel J.; Vacanti, Nathaniel; Lytton‐Jean, Abigail K. R.; Cho, Seung‐Woo; Ye, Anne; Langer, Robert; Anderson, Daniel G.
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201003482pmid: 21394790
Biodegradable elastomeric materials have particular utility in tissue engineering applications because their compliance under force closely resembles the elastic nature of many human tissues. A family of biodegradable poly(ester amide) elastomers were developed, with excellent elasticity under hydrated conditions, good in vivo biocompatibility and a slow degradation rate. This study sheds light on the structure‐property relationship behind designing biodegradable elastomeric materials.
Oppositely Charged Gelatin Nanospheres as Building Blocks for Injectable and Biodegradable GelsWang, Huanan; Hansen, Morten B.; Löwik, Dennis W. P. M.; van Hest, Jan C. M.; Li, Yubao; Jansen, John A.; Leeuwenburgh, Sander C. G.
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201003908pmid: 21394793
Injectable and biodegradable gels have been formed by a bottom‐up synthesis strategy employing oppositely charged gelatin nanospheres as particulate building blocks. These gels are formed by electrostatic interactions between and tight packing of gelatin nanospheres of opposite charge. Due to their favorable clinical handling, ease of functionalization, and cost‐effectiveness, these gels show great potential as injectable gels for tissue regeneration.
Electronic, Molecular Weight, Molecular Volume, and Financial Cost‐Scaling and Comparison of Two‐Photon Absorption Efficiency in Disparate Molecules (Organometallic Complexes for Nonlinear Optics. 48.) – A Response to “Comment on ‘Organometallic Complexes for Nonlinear Optics. 45. Dispersion of the Third‐Order Nonlinear Optical Properties of Triphenylamine‐Cored Alkynylruthenium Dendrimers.’ Increasing the Nonlinear Response by Two Orders of Magnitude.”Schwich, Torsten; Cifuentes, Marie P.; Gugger, Paul A.; Samoc, Marek; Humphrey, Mark G.
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201004348
The two‐photon absorption cross‐sections of related organometallic and organic dendrimers have been compared using a basket of scaling factors, the results revealing that organometallics are highly competitive as possible nonlinear optical materials viewed from economic, size, and weight perspectives, as well as consideration of π‐electron contribution.
Thermally Induced, Multicolored Hyper‐Reflective Cholesteric Liquid CrystalsMcConney, Michael E.; Tondiglia, Vincent P.; Hurtubise, Jennifer M.; Natarajan, Lalgudi V.; White, Timothy J.; Bunning, Timothy J.
2011 Advanced Materials
doi: 10.1002/adma.201003552pmid: 21433112
A dynamic multicolored cholesteric cell is formed using chiral, structured, surface‐tethered polymer networks. The multicolored cholesteric cell is filled with a thermally tunable liquid crystal mixture of opposite handedness of the polymer networks, which enables thermally induced hyper‐reflectivity at the two reflection bands induced by the surface tethered polymer.