Editors: Viness Pillay, Yahya E. Choonara, Pradeep Kumar

Series Title: Frontiers in Biomaterials

Unfolding the Biopolymer Landscape

Volume 2

eBook: US $39 Special Offer (PDF + Printed Copy): US $217
Printed Copy: US $197
Library License: US $156
ISSN: 2468-0168 (Print)
ISSN: 2352-3921 (Online)
ISBN: 978-1-68108-196-0 (Print)
ISBN: 978-1-68108-195-3 (Online)
Year of Publication: 2016
DOI: 10.2174/97816810819531160201

Introduction

The need for the development of biomaterials as scaffold for tissue regeneration is driven by the increasing demands for materials that mimic functions of extracellular matrices of body tissues. Unfolding the Biopolymer Landscape provides a unique account of “biopolymeric interventions” inherent to biotechnological applications, soft tissue engineering, ophthalmic drug delivery, biotextiles, environmentally responsive systems, neurotherapeutics, and emulsions-based formulations for food and pharmaceutical applications. Chapters in this volume also cover biomedical applications and implications of cationic polymers, collagen-based substrates, multifunctional polymers, shape memory biopolymers, hybrid semisynthetic biomaterials, microbial exopolysaccharides, biomaterials mimicking the extracellular microenvironment, derivatized polysaccharides, and metallic biomaterials.

Each chapter is distinctly written by experts in the respective fields and emphasis is given on the mechanistic profile of the performance of biopolymers and biomedical applications. This book provides both basic and advanced biopolymer information for scientific experts and early career researchers in the field of drug delivery, tissue engineering, nanomedicine, food technology, peptide science, biomaterial design, and nutrition.

Preface

The biopolymer landscape is undergoing a revolution and illuminates the propensity of certain multifunctional biomaterials to change the way biopolymers are synthesized and applied for the design of scaffolds in tissue engineering, controlling the spatial and temporal release of bioactives into the human body as well as to modulate the physicochemical and physicomechanical properties of therapeutic systems for enhanced form and function. For example at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) (http://www.wits.ac.za/waddp) we focus on specialized biopolymers that allow us to design therapeutic systems that can perform functions outside their range of conventional capability and into the blue skies realm, including 3D printability. The mechanized uniqueness of biopolymers is embodied not only in their macroscopic structural changes, but also in their ability to respond to varying stimuli, reversibly change their shape or even behave as in vivo tissue or organ surrogates. Such biopolymers have been applied in a vast array of biomedical applications that include stimuli-sensitive bioactive delivery systems, intelligent medical and surgical devices, tissue engineering, or implants for minimally invasive surgery. In this eBook, we provide a topographical view of the tortuous biopolymer landscape and elaborate on the fundamental molecular mechanisms and physical dynamics of polymer behavior that bring about their advanced function. Furthermore, we highlight the diverse stimuli that instigate biopolymer function and discuss those that have undergone modification, functionalization and customization for specialized biomedical applications. We would like to thank the experts who have made immense contributions to the various Chapters within this eBook and have emphasized the fact that certainly the biopolymer landscape is far from flat. The future is exciting.

Viness Pillay
Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit
Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg
7 York Road, Parktown, 2193
South Africa

Yahya E. Choonara
Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit
Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg
7 York Road, Parktown, 2193
South Africa
&

Pradeep Kumar
Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit
Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg
7 York Road, Parktown, 2193
South Africa


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