Stimuli-responsive chiral nematic liquid crystal hydrogel implants by electrospinning technique.

PI: Filippo Pierini
Funding agency: National Science Centre (NCN)
Programme: Sonata 10
Grant period: 11th July 2016 – 10th July 2019

The aim of the proposed project is to develop stimuli-responsive electrospun polymer hydrogel materials in order to produce implantable smart materials for biomedical applications. Tissue engineering and drug delivery strategies have great potential for medical treatments of several diseases and injuries. Their applicability is limited by the implanted materials lack of biomimeticity and adaptability to the specific biological tissue requirements over time.
The project intends to produce soft and biocompatible stimuli-sensitive nanostructured hydrogel capable of releasing drugs and to be easily tunable when applying external stimuli. The beneficial effects of the material softness will be accompanied by the drug release that will minimize tissue inflammation and stimulate the growth of cells around the implant. The stiffness reduction and materials deformability will be particularly helpful in neural tissue and cartilage treatments.
In our opinion, the project realization will not only represent a major step forward in the field of tissue engineering and drug delivery system applications, but it is also expected that the produced materials will find practical application in several other fields such as filtration, catalysis, energy conversion, and sensing.

Electrospinning Nanofibers Hydrogel Stimuli Responsive  Materials Smart Materials Intelligent Materials Nematic Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Core Shell Coaxial Implant Drug Delivery Tissue Engineering>