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Sci Tech
Polymers with shape memory
Engineers are always searching for materials that display unconventional properties able to satisfy the severe requirements for implantation in the body. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing unique polymers, which change shape upon heating, to open blocked arteries, probe neurons in the brain and engineer a tougher spine.
Extremely attractive
The mechanical properties of these polymers make them extremely attractive for many biomedical applications. These so-called shape-memory polymers can be temporarily stretched or compressed into forms several times larger or smaller than their final shape.
Then heat, light or the local chemical environment triggers a transformation into their permanent shape.
“My focus has been to optimize these polymers for many different biomedical applications.
“My lab studies how altering the chemistry and structure of the polymers affects their chemical, biological and mechanical properties,” said Ken Gall, a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, who described his research in this area during two presentations at the Materials Research Society’s fall meeting.
Gall’s research group has designed a shape-memory polymer stent that can be compressed and fed through a tiny hole in the body into a blocked artery, just like a conventional stent.
Then, the warmth of the body triggers the polymer’s expansion into its permanent shape, resulting in natural deployment without auxiliary devices. This work was published in the journal Biomaterials earlier this year.
Particular attention must be paid to the biofunctionality, biostability and biocompatibility of these materials, which come into contact with tissue and body fluids, according to a Georgia Institute of Technology press release. Also, polymers more closely resemble soft biological tissue and can be designed to gradually dissolve in the body. — Our Bureau
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