EAPSI: Designing Tailorable Bioplastics for Biomedical Applications

Levine Alex C, Ellenville NY

Investigators

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable and biocompatible plastics that are natively produced by bacteria as an energy storage material. These plastics have physical properties similar to petroleum based plastics, with existing applications ranging from bulk commodity goods to tissue engineering materials. The biodegradable aspect of PHAs leads toward environmentally sustainable applications, such as biodegradable shopping bags, whereas the biocompatibility of PHAs allows for the pursuit of medical applications such as wound dressings and tissue scaffolds. In collaboration with Dr. Keiji Numata, a leading expert in biopolymers at the RIKEN institute in Japan, this study aims to develop cutting edge PHA plastics with enhanced physical properties. This research will result in a novel PHA with a high degree of cross-linking, which is hypothesized to increase flexibility in stiff and brittle PHAs, and incorporate shape-memory features into soft and elastic PHAs. Stronger and flexible PHAs may find uses as bone scaffolds to promote rapid healing, or as stents for patients suffering from collapsed arteries. Softer PHAs could be used as artificial tissue, such as heart valves or nerve grafts for repairing damaged neurons. To achieve this goal, unsaturated PHAs will be chemically modified by thiolene click chemistry. Using a polythiol linker, the PHA side-chain alkene functional groups will be cross-linked using UV light. It is anticipated that controlling the extent of the modification will result in plastics with tailorable physical properties, tunable as required for specific applications. In addition to physical properties, PHAs will be tested for biocompatibility to ensure they maintain relevant for medical uses. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.