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Inventors at Georgia Tech have synthesized a new class of biodegradable polymers that will take advantage of both natural materials and synthetic polymers for cellular regeneration
About
Inventors at Georgia Tech have synthesized a new class of biodegradable polymers that will take advantage of both natural materials and synthetic polymers. Their methodology uses universal synthetic linkers that can link the amino groups and the carboxyl groups of amino acids (AAs) and oligopeptides (OPs) to create hybrid biomaterials. The resultant materials would cover a wide range of physical, chemical, and biological properties, have controlled molecular structure, and offer good biocompatibility. For example, the materials would have a variety of functional groups in the side chains, much like natural peptides. The materials could feature covalent crosslinks or physical crosslinks. The resultant polymers could be elastomers, rigid polymers, or hydrogels. With the appropriate AA or OP, the materials could have one or more functions such as promote cell adhesion and growth, selectively attract one type of cell, promote neovascularization, and stimulate tissue regeneration.
Key Benefits
They are biologically active and the range of properties rivals those of natural polypeptides. (i.e. the compositional possibilities are essentially endless because of the astronomical number of possible combinations of the 20 natural AAs and OPs). They are hybrid materials instead of pure polypeptides, making them less immunogenic; and these hybrid materials will have ester bonds in addition to peptide bonds, thus the body should be able to absorbed them more readily. The addition of ester bonds would make these materials more soluble and processible than synthetic poly( amino acids). Compared with conventional biodegradable polymers such as PLGA, the degradation products of these materials will be close to neutral, which would reduce or eliminate inflammation induced by local acidity.
Applications
Cellular regeneration Wound healing Cardiovascular tissue engineering Nerve regeneration