Bioinspired materials

Tendons, which transmit the force from muscles to the bones, are a composite of elastin and collagen. They can store up to 20 times the energy of spring steel. They are abo an example of what we would now call a smart material. They let you know when you are in danger of overstressing them through the pain you feel. There b a considerable effort these days to develop materials that can monitor and configure themselves in response to their environment. 

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Such effects are likely to be important. The use of SP interactions to create bioinspired material properties (e.g., see Chap. 9) implies that the ultimate yield behavior of SP materials could depend on the mechanical response of supramolecular interactions. Paulusse and Sijbesma (2004) have also shown that ultrasound-generated shear stresses can mechanically tear apart coordination SPs, damage that is subsequently repaired during dynamic equilibration once the shear stresses are removed. The mechanical response of supramolecular interactions within materials has potentially important consequences in the context of self-repairing materials, where the mpture of sacrificial supramolecular interactions protects a permanent, underlying materials architecture. The dynamic repair of the SP component in... 

A review is given of the authors work in developing new bioinspired materials, called bioartificial materials. The key is to understand the interactions between the synthetic and biological systems and to obtain materials where these interactions are optimized prior to their contact with a living tissue. The work shown in this paper provides encouraging indication for the developments of new biomaterials containing synthetic and natural components with improved performances for new applications. 

Manufacturing Improvements for precision engineering new processes, and tools to manipulate matter at the atomic level nanopowders that are sintered into bulk materials with special properties that may include sensors to detect incipient failures and actuators to repair problems chemical-mechanical polishing with nanoparticles, self-assembling of structures from molecules bioinspired materials and biostructures... 

Youngblood, J. P. Sottos, N. R. 2008 Bioinspired materials for self-cleaning and self-healing. MRS Bull. 33, 732-738. 

Bioinspired materials for medical applications Edited by L. Rodrigues and M. Mota... 

Keywords Bioinspired materials Hermann Staudinger History International Historic Chemical Landmark Macromolecule Polymer Polymer sciences... 

Figure 1.1 Biomimetic calcium carbonate microspheres made by bioinspired materials chemistry (scale 10pm).

Colloidal crystal polymers also have been used as templates for bioinspired materials. Geckos use closely packed arrays of hairs to create adhesion. The hairs can be scalably mimicked using colloidal crystal monolayers on silica substrates [149,150], The voids created by the PS colloid were etched to create nanotrenches in the substrate which, following dissolution of the polymer colloid, were filled with parylene. Subsequently the silica was removed, leaving a free-standing flexible parylene pillar array with enhanced adhesive properties. 

S. Lang, D. Schuler and D. Faivre, Macromolecular Bioscience, Special Issue Bioinspired Materials, 2007, 7, 144. 

Fisher, O. Z., A. Khademhosseini, R. Langer, and N. A. Peppas. 2010. Bioinspired materials for controlling stem cell fate. Acc Chem Res 43 419-28. 

Dujardin, E. and Maim, S. (2002) Bioinspired materials chemistry. Advanced Materials, 14, 775-88. 

The concomitant use of polysaccharides and proteins might widen the conditions to produce novel bioinspired systems with enhanced control over the minerals morphology. It is however surprising to notice that the focus on this approach is rather limited. The variety of conditions that may arise from a reasonable combination of different biomacromolecules should provide a wide range of new conditions and, as a consequence, a multitude of new bioinspired materials. 

The fast development of the new tools discovered in the recent years for genome editing, as well as emergent approaches to assemble DNA parts will certainly foster the development of new bioinspired materials for medical applications. 

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