Designing polymers for biomedical applications

Traditionally, advances in the biomaterials field have relied heavily on materials developed for non-biomedical applications. More recently, the development of materials designed for specific biomedical applications has helped fuel enormous growth in the health care industry. For example, sales of controlled-release pharmaceutical formulations alone, which depend heavily on development of functional, biocompatible materials, now exceed $20 billion per year. Our group uses the principles of chemistry, engineering, and biology to design materials-based approaches to important problems in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and health-related fields.

One focus of our group is the synthesis and evaluation of materials that can be used to transfer therapeutic genes to cells safely and efficiently. Such materials could represent alternatives to viruses for gene therapy applications, but currently suffer from poor gene transfer efficiency. We are also interested in developing advanced materials for the controlled release of drugs, and designing systems that sustain, enhance, or direct the growth and differentiation of human cells for the rapidly growing field of tissue engineering.

In addressing these problems, our goals are to understand how control over molecular structure influences material properties, and how subsequent changes in material properties affect interactions with biological systems. The first goal takes advantage of advances in the chemical sciences, particularly in the areas of organic chemistry, polymer synthesis, and materials characterization. Toward the second goal, we evaluate new materials in our own laboratory and work closely with other groups and members of industry to identify new opportunities and strategies.

Our research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, providing opportunities for students with backgrounds or interests in chemistry, engineering, biology, materials science, medicine, and the pharmaceutical sciences.

A fundamental understanding of materials properties and the structure/activity relationships that define new biomaterials is essential to the design, engineering, and application of new therapeutic systems. How do subtle changes in polymer structure affect the efficiency or mechanism through which cells internalize and process nanoparticles for gene delivery? How does the structure of a material affect the release rates of encapsulated drugs, or influence the attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of cell types? We use a mixture of hypothesis-driven and discovery-oriented techniques (such as parallel polymer synthesis and high-throughput cell-based screening) to answer such questions and engineer new approaches that could accelerate the rate at which new materials are discovered for clinical applications.

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By David Lynn