Biomaterials and bioengineering tomorrow's healthcare

Abstract

Biomaterials are being used for the healthcare applications from ancient times. But subsequent evolution has made them more versatile and has increased their utility. Biomaterials have revolutionized the areas like bioengineering and tissue engineering for the development of novel strategies to combat life threatening diseases. Together with biomaterials, stem cell technology is also being used to improve the existing healthcare facilities. These concepts and technologies are being used for the treatment of different diseases like cardiac failure, fractures, deep skin injuries, etc. Introduction of nanomaterials on the other hand is becoming a big hope for a better and an affordable healthcare. Technological advancements are underway for the development of continuous monitoring and regulating glucose levels by the implantation of sensor chips. Lab-on-a-chip technology is expected to modernize the diagnostics and make it more easy and regulated. Other area which can improve the tomorrow's healthcare is drug delivery. Micro-needles have the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional needles and are being studied for the delivery of drugs at different location in human body. There is a huge advancement in the area of scaffold fabrication which has improved the potentiality of tissue engineering. Most emerging scaffolds for tissue engineering are hydrogels and cryogels. Dynamic hydrogels have huge application in tissue engineering and drug delivery. Furthermore, cryogels being supermacroporous allow the attachment and proliferation of most of the mammalian cell types and have shown application in tissue engineering and bioseparation. With further developments we expect these technologies to hit the market in near future which can immensely improve the healthcare facilities.

Keywords: biomaterials; diagnostics; healthcare; nanomaterials; three-dimensional matrices.

Figure 1. Worldwide tissue engineering and cell therapy market for year 2012 and 2018. (Reproduced with permission from- Source: “Tissue Engineering, Cell Therapy and Transplantation: Products, Technologies & Market Opportunities, Worldwide, 2009-2018″, Report #S520).

Figure 2. Schematic representation of use of cardiac bandages for treatment of ischemic heart (Reproduced with permission from ref. 21).

Figure 3. Drug eluting stents (A) Stent is mounted on a catheter and inserted at the diseased area. (B) Balloon is inflated which expanded the stent. (C) Balloon is then deflated leaving the drug eluting stent as a scaffold. (D) Catheter with deflated balloon is removed leaving the stent at the diseased site which then releases the medication. Reproduced with permission from reference .

Figure 4. Schematic representation of different types of microneedles (MN’s) used for the drug delivery (Reproduced with permission from ref. 54).

Figure 5. Digital images of cryogels showing their flexibility to be fabricated in different formats (A) (Reproduced with permission from ref. 71). Fluorescent microscopic image of cryogel section showing interconnected porous network (B).