Smart Bio-Materials and Drug Delivery

Three main research lines are presently developed at Politecnico di Milano: drug and gene delivery; surface modification/modeling; design of advanced materials; shape memory polymers and biodegradable stents. For gene delivery, non-viral polycationic-branched polyethylenimine (b-PEI) polyplexes are coated with pectin, an anionic polysaccharide, to enhance the polyplex stability and decrease b-PEI cytotoxicity. Perfluorinated materials, specifically perfluoroether, and perfluoro-polyether fluids are proposed as ultrasound contrast agents and smart agents for drug delivery. Non-fouling, self-assembled PEG-based monolayers are developed on titanium surfaces with the aim to drastically reduce cariogenic bacteria adhesion on dental implants. Femtosecond laser microfabrication is used for selectively and spatially tuning the wettability of polymeric biomaterials and the effects of femtosecond laser ablation on surface properties of polymethylmethacrylate were studied. Innovative functionally graded Alumina-Ti coatings for wear resistant articulating surfaces are deposited with PLD and characterized through a combined experimental and computational approach. Protein adsorption on biomaterials surfaces with an unlike wettability and surface-modification induced by pre-adsorbed proteins are studied by atomistic computer simulations. A study is performed on fabrication of porous Shape Memory Polymeric structures and on the evaluation of their potential application in minimally invasive surgical procedures. A model of Magnesium (alloys) degradation, in a finite element framework analysis, and a bottom-up multiscale analysis for modeling the degradation mechanism of PLA matrices is developed, with the aim to provide valuable tools in the design of bioresorbable stents