H2020Индивидуална стипендия2021–2024

AMPLIFI · Development of an Auxetic, antiMicrobial, suPramolecular coordination poLymer as a meta-materIal For bIomedical applications

„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2021-10-01 → 2024-09-30
Финансиране от ЕС: 222 074 €
Участници: 1
Схема: MSCA-IF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Нови материали с антибактериални свойства и специална структура, които се разширяват при разтягане, се разработват за медицински импланти и катетри. Те могат да подобрят издръжливостта на устройствата и тяхното прилягане към сложните структури в човешкото тяло.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Development of an Auxetic, antiMicrobial, suPramolecular coordination poLymer as a meta-materIal For bIomedical applications

By 2050, the global population aged 60 and older is projected to reach 2 billion, a significant increase from the 900 million recorded in 2015. This rise in average life expectancy is largely driven by continuous advancements in healthcare, influenced by innovations across sectors such as patient comfort and care, and medical and biomedical devices—including catheters, implants, and orthopaedic devices. While these biomedical devices are essential to healthcare, their use is often associated with challenges, such as patient comfort, biocompatibility, and the need for specific mechanical and physical properties. For instance, devices require a smooth surface, flexibility, and strength to withstand mechanical forces, while avoiding kinking, collapse, and susceptibility to bacterial infections. Consequently, the extensive use of these devices places substantial demands on healthcare, economic, and social resources. There is therefore a pressing need for the development of advanced materials that can address these challenges. One potential solution to the mechanical challenges in biomedical device design lies in the application of auxetic materials. These materials, known for their unique properties resulting from a negative Poisson’s ratio, expand transversely when uniaxially stretched. This property grants auxetic materials distinct advantages, such as synclastic curvature (forming a dome shape when bent), increased resistance to indentation and enhanced fracture and vibrational damping properties. Such qualities suggest that auxetic materials could significantly improve medical devices by enhancing durability, vibration resistance, and adaptability to complex body structures. In response to the critical need for advanced materials in biomedical device design, the AMPLIFI project aimed to create a new base material tailored for specialised biomedical applications, featuring enhanced properties such as auxeticity. The project’s first objective was to identify suitable building blocks for creating a polymer with auxetic characteristics using molecular modelling techniques. The second objective focused on synthesizing and characterizing the units identified in the first objective, as well as optimizing conditions for polymer assembly. The third objective sought to assess the resulting material’s mechanical, antimicrobial, and adsorption properties.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

AMPLIFI aims to develop an innovative auxetic, antimicrobial meta-material based on a supramolecular coordination polymer for the design of biomedical devices. Auxetics are unique due to their negative Poisson’s ratio, which imparts superior mechanical qualities when compared to conventional materials. They offer huge potential if used to design biomedical devices such as catheters. There is as yet no synthetic material that demonstrates auxeticity at the nano-level, even if potential auxeticity was demonstrated through simulations. Through AMPLIFI I will design a polymeric structure with superior mechanical strength that offers better patient comfort by virtue of its auxetic properties while also dealing with the challenge of bacterial infections. The project exploits the versatility of supramolecular chemistry of calixarenes or related macrocycles and self-assembly. Appropriate building blocks for a self-assembled auxetic polymer will be identified by MM simulations, and the effect of adding antimicrobial agents studied. The identified coordination polymer will be synthesized, fully characterised and subsequently tested for antimicrobial properties. I have a strong background in supramolecular chemistry which makes AMPLIFI an ideal project for me, and I will be joined by a strong supervisory team at the University of Malta consisting of an expert in auxetics, a renowned microbiologist and a structural chemist. AMPLIFI also boasts of the co-supervision of a leader in calixarene and related macrocyclic chemistry from the University of Parma. AMPLIFI builds on my expertise and enables me to work within a multidisciplinary team at the interface of theoretical chemistry, experimental organic synthesis and microbiology. In short, AMPLIFI provides me with a holistic research and training package to kick-start an independent research path and affords an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to the urgent plead for more comfortable and safer biomedical devices.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

UNIVERSITA TA MALTA · MSIDAКоординаторМалта