Please join the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology on Thursday, September 5, 2019 for a guest lecture by Jian Ji, Professor in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University. He will be speaking on "Surface Engineering of Biomedical Materials via Bio-Inspired Strategy".[Poster]
Abstract:
Although biomaterials have been widely used and contribute a lot to promote the life quality, there are many challenges in biomaterials research and applications. One of the strategies to solve the problem could be, develop a bio-inspired interfacial material with highly specific interaction. We explore to surface engineering of biomedical materials in both macro- and nano- scale via the bio-inspired strategies.
The basement membrane is the special extracellular matrix which supports the endothelium and modulate the vessel repair. The multilayer assembly has becoming the most promising method to mimic the extracellular matrix. We have demonstrated that the multilayer assemblies can not only provide a simple tool to immobilize different bio-functional molecules but also be explored to have different micro-nanostructures and bio-inspired multifunction including specific wettability, stimuli-responsive and self-adaptive stiffness. In order to translate the surface method to a real coating technology, we further developed a straightforward strategy to generate polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) films by a humidity-triggered relaxation of PEC NPs. Based on this strategy, we present a one-pot loading approach for adding functions to mimic the complexity of extracellular matrix.
The virus, which is made up of a mixed opposite charge of the different types of the amino acid, provide the best example to achieve the specific target in the complex in vivo system. In following the biological inspiration, we demonstrated that the mixed-charged of gold nanoparticle present better ‘‘stealth’’ properties and higher accumulation in tumour than PEG-2000 modified nanoparticles. Combing with the pH-responsive properties of weak electrolytes, the mixed charge bionanointerface can be explored as a robust method to control the aggregation of NPs sensitive to enhance the retention and cellular uptake of inorganic NPs in tumours, which has perfect stealth properties and pH-sensitivity for tumour targeting and photothermal treatment.
Bio:
His research focuses on interfacial phenomena for biomedical implant, tissue engineering and nanomedicine. Based on the biospired strategy, several methods were explored to develop biocompatible and biofunctional surface for biomedical application. He has published over 200 full research papers at the interface of materials innovation in medicine and authorized over 20 patents on surface coating technology. Several innovative techniques have been applied to biomedical devices including cardiovascular stent and catheter, etc.