Degradable Polyester Elastomer Platform

Abstract

Synthetic degradable biomaterials are being designed for an increasing number of clinical applications. Common biomaterials such as poly(lactic acid) and polycaprolactone are useful because of their mechanical and biodegradable properties. However, such biomaterials are deficient in their modularity and ability to tailor their properties to that of the physiological properties. The current presentation will describe the work of the Joy Lab in bridging this gap between natural materials which are cell instructive but have disadvantages of reproducibility and scalability and synthetic materials that can be made in large scales but have poor functionality. The Joy Lab has developed a modular biomaterial platform with the aim of bridging this performance gap and are employing it for various applications. In this talk we will describe its use as a platform for 3D printable inks for fabricating tissue engineering scaffolds and delivery devices. A library of 3D printable multifunctional polyesters was established and based on the assessment of their 3D printability, a range of various critical rheological properties have been identified. Moreover, voxel-voxel adhesion experiments were performed to examine interfacial dynamics in native, unperturbed state of polymer melts, and an empirical relationship between the stress relaxation time and the maximum 3D printing speed for various polymers was demonstrated. Furthermore, the role of various functional groups and their supramolecular interactions such as H-bonding, pi stacking, and van der Waals forces on their 3D printability was investigated.

About the Speaker

Abraham Joy is an associate professor of Polymer Science at the University of Akron. He obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from Tulane University. After postdoctoral training at Georgia Tech and Rutgers University he joined the faculty of Polymer Science at the University of Akron. The central focus of his research group is to develop materials for biomedical and engineering applications. The Joy Lab is engaged in developing peptidomimetic biomaterials for applications in wound healing, antibacterial, antibiofilm, tissue adhesives, 3D printing, and controlled protein and drug encapsulation and delivery.