Previous investigations have established the utility of porous silicon in electrospun microfibers of biocompatible polymers such as polycaprolactone (PCL) for possible applications such as orthopedic tissue engineering1 and treatment of ocular disease.2 For the latter, the presence of a polymer such as PCL or poly-L lactic acid (PLLA) facilitates processing and provides opportunities for multistage drug delivery dependent on the dissolution kinetics of the porous Si and polymer components, respectively. In this presentation, we outline a process for the spatial control of particle location of nanostructured porous silicon in the polymer network and ideal control of drug release from this platform. We seek to use the porous silicon as a chemical reservoir for the sustained release of either ophthalmological-relevant drugs or cellular growth factors, but begin with proof-of-concept using a fluorescent dye as an easily-tracked proximate. After a discussion of composite microstructure using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization and an evaluation of the stability of such structures in cell-based media, kinetic-based studies of the release of therapeutics from these composites are presented.1. Dongmei Fan, Giridhar R. Akkaraju, Ernest F. Couch, Leigh T. Canham, and Jeffery L. Coffer, Nanoscale, 2011 , 3,354-361.2.  Soheila Kashanian, Frances Harding, Yazad Irani, Sonja Klebe, Kirsty Marshall, Armando Loni, Leigh Canham, Dongmei Fan, Keryn A Williams, Nicolas H Voelcker and Jeffery L Coffer, Acta Biomaterialia , 2010  , 6, 3566�3572.

? Electrospun porous silicon-biocompatible polymer composites: A route for long term drug release in ophthalmological applications

247th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.