Nanoscale coatings for medical devices

Development of nanoscale coatings for medical devices using natural and/or synthetic polymers. Electrospinning technique allows to fabricate 3D membranes, which mimic the extracellular matrix, with high surface-volume ratio, high porosity, interconnected pores and tailored physico-chemical properties; moreover it is widely used to obtain mimetic structures able to promote cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. When used as surface coatings for medical devices, they will promote a more adequate integration of the device through the formation of healthy non-fibrotic tissue, ameliorating the host-tissue response.

To enhance the in vivo performance of implantable devices, biomolecules are grafted on surface device exploiting functional groups generated through different surface activating-techniques, such as plasma and biomimetics approcches (3,4-diidroxyphenilalanine).