Ionic polymers have made a significant impact in the advancement of health care technology and will continue to be a key focus area of biomaterials development. With the growing understanding on how biology responds to existing biomaterials, the importance of engineering biological activity into synthetic materials to greatly improve their performance in traditional and novel healthcare applications has become more apparent. Consequently bioactive, biomimetic, and smart polymers have taken the center stage in biopolymer development. This presentation will summarize two specific examples on design and synthesis of biomimetic amino acid-based ionic polymers and their use in healthcare related applications. The first example will be focused on functionalized filtration media for impurity removal in biopharmaceutical filtration. One of the most challenging areas of biopharmaceutical drug production is the filtration/purification process of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. Removal of contaminants such as aggregates, host cell proteins, nucleic acids, and viruses is an essential part of this process. To be able to overcome this filtration problem; fine tuning of the ligand chemistry (ionic monomer/polymer) on the filtration media is essential. The main objective of this work is to develop a platform of novel mixed-mode functional monomers derived from amino acids and investigate their applicability as ligands for functionalized membranes for biopharmaceutical purification. The second example will summarize efforts in development of a first aid treatment material and a safety and efficacy model build to better understand how such products and treatment processes impact the wound healing outcomes.

Design and synthesis of amino acid-based ionic polymers for healthcare applications

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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