Design of stimuli sensitive hydrogels

The final goal of this Research Topic is the design of new injectable systems for application in drug delivery and 3D bioprinting. To this aim, the wide versatility offered by poly(urethane) chemistry is exploited to synthesize multiblock copolymers exhibiting specific features. Injectable thermo-sensitive hydrogels for localized and sustained drug/biomolecule release are designed starting from ad-hoc synthesized amphiphilic poly(urethane)s. The same materials are also used as component of injectable supramolecular and bioartificial systems based on customized synthetic polymers and cyclodextrins. With the aim to design new bioinks for 3D bioprinting applications, poly(urethane)s are bulk functionalized with properly selected photo-sensitive moieties. Hence, thermo-sensitive and photo-curable hydrogels can be developed, showing a primary stability upon 3D bioprinting provided by their temperature-driven gelation, which is then further increased through photo-curing with UV/Vis light.

Relevant publications:

Laurano R., Cassino C., Ciardelli G., Chiono V., Boffito M. Polyurethane-based thiomers: a new multifunctional copolymer platform for biomedical applications, React Funct Polym, 146, 104413, 2020. https://iris.polito.it/handle/11583/2774512#.Xj0RiTJKixA

Boffito M., Grivet Brancot A., Lima O., Bronco S., Sartori S., Ciardelli G. Injectable thermosensitive gels for the localized and controlled delivery of biomolecules in tissue engineering/regenerative medicine, Biomed Sci Eng, vol. 3, 2019. https://iris.polito.it/handle/11583/2790013#.Xj1ZazJKixA

Boffito M., Pontremoli C., Fiorilli S., Laurano R., Ciardelli G., Vitale-Brovarone C. Injectable thermosensitive polyurethane hydrogels for sustained co-delivery of functional ions and drugs, Pharmaceutics, vol. 11, E501, 2019. https://iris.polito.it/handle/11583/2761735#.Xj0RmzJKixA

Pontremoli C., Boffito M., Fiorilli S., Laurano L., Torchio A., Bari A., Tonda-Turo C., Ciardelli G., Vitale-Brovarone C. Hybrid injectable platforms for the in situ delivery of therapeutic ions from mesoporous glasses, Chem Eng J, vol. 340, 103-113, 2018. https://iris.polito.it/handle/11583/2701310#.Xj0RvzJKixA

Boffito M., Gioffredi E., Chiono V., Calzone S., Ranzato E., Martinotti S., Ciardelli G. Novel polyurethane-based thermosensitive hydrogels as drug release and tissue engineering platforms: design and in vitro characterization, Polym Int, 65, 756-769, 2016. https://iris.polito.it/handle/11583/2649303#.Xj0SFDJKixA