AERO- AND CRYOGELS BASED ON BIOPOLYMERS - VERSATILE MATERIALS FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Summary

The present project aims to obtain xero-, aero- and cryogels with designed properties as versatile materials for biomedical applications and to develop the existing collaboration, that is mutually beneficial, in the field of polysaccharides porous matrices.
The originality of the project is the fact that starting from the same precursor (cellulose or pectin) three-dimensional (3D) polymeric materials will be obtained, which will be further dried by different methods (xero-, aero- and cryo-) and subsequently tested for two biomedical applications: drugs controlled release systems and scaffolds for tissue engineering.
In this context, an understanding of the influence of polysaccharide state (solution or gel) and drying mode (xero-, aero- or cryo-) on the morphology and final porosity of the materials, will be pursued. The purpose of the project is to obtain versatile porous polymeric materials, providing "recipes" that lead to a certain morphology and, as a consequence, to a particular biomedical application. Finally, matrices prepared from natural polysaccharides and from mixtures of natural/microbial polysaccharides will be compared in terms of efficiency/performance for the chosen scope. The evaluation of polymer matrices in order to identify the requirements to be met for biomedical applications will be achieved through drug release studies and biocompatibility studies (viability and cell proliferation).