Chemical and structural designing of nanomaterials for application in medicine and tissue engineering

The project is based on the research of multifunctional biomaterials on the basis of ceramic and polymer systems. Synthesis and modification of these systems assume very precise chemical, structural, and particularly geometric design at various levels of ordering. Such design will provide very good mechanical and biological properties of these systems, being an essential condition for their successful use in medicine as carriers of corresponding tissues (scaffolds). Biomaterials based on ceramic nanopowders, biodegradable polymers, hydrogels, metal and semiconducting nanoparticles will be the subject of these investigations. The main part of the project is focused on the enhancement of physicochemical properties and biological activity of ceramic carriers by surface modification of scaffold inner walls by deposition of various kinds of thin films of polymers or colloidal systems based on superparamagnetics, metal or semiconducting nanoparticles. Similar approach will be applied to bioactive coatings. Nanopowders based on hydroxyapatite, various particle sizes and shapes, will be used for scaffold construction. Scaffold and polymer degradation and controlled drug release, as well as magnetic and conductive properties of synthesized colloid systems as potential therapeutic agents, will also be investigated. Finally, biological and medical investigations will be performed “in vitro”, by using particular cell lines, and “in vivo”, by using appropriate animal models.