Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering

Polyurethanes have become a popular material in biomedical engineering due to their versatile segmented block co-polymeric structure and associated flexible biocompatibility and biodegradation characteristics. The Santerre laboratory has thoroughly investigated biodegradation mechanisms of synthetic polyurethanes and focused on developing new polyurethane biomaterials that modulate immune cell (e.g. monocyte/macrophage) activation to support favourable cell-material/cell-cell interactions for new tissue regeneration. One example of the novel polyurethanes developed by the Santerre laboratory is a degradable polar hydrophobic ionic (D-PHI) polyurethane. D-PHI has been shown to have good biocompatibility, controlled biodegradation rate and tunable mechanical properties. Furthermore, D-PHI has been demonstrated to stimulate low-inflammatory phenotype of immune cells and promote functional marker expression of both vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells, suggesting its great potential in engineering mature vascular tissues as well as other soft tissue engineering applications. Moreover, these polymers can be fabricated in various forms for different applications, including two-dimensional films, nanofibrous membranes, porous scaffolds, and microparticles and nanoparticles.

Select Publications :

  1. Sheikholeslam MA, Wright M, Nan Cheng, Hwan-Hee Oh, Datu AK, Nik SA, Santerre JP, Jeschke MG, Electrospun co-polyurethane-gelatin scaffold: a new tissue engineered skin substitute for complex wounds, ACS Journal of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, 6, 505-516 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b00861

  2. Chan JP, Battiston KG, Santerre JP, Synthesis and characterization of electrospun nanofibrous tissue engineering scaffolds generated from in situ polymerization of ionomeric polyurethane composites, Acta Biomaterialia, 96, 161 - 174 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2019.06.046

  3. Tawagi E, Ganesh T, Cheng H-LM, Santerre JP, Synthesis of degradable-polar-hydrophobic-ionic co-polymeric microspheres by membrane emulsion photopolymerization: in vitro and in vivo studies, Acta Biomaterialia, 89, 279-288 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2019.03.014

  4. Sharifpoor S, Labow RS, Santerre JP, The synthesis and characterization of degradable polar hydrophobic ionic polyurethane porous scaffolds for vascular tissue engineering applications, Biomacromolecules, 10 (10): 2729–2739 (2009). DOI:10.1021/bm9004194