The bio-electronic interface is the next frontier of a wide range of biomedical therapies, from implanted devices that therapeutically stimulate organs, to regenerative medicines that use electrical cues to guide stem cell differentiation towards target lineages. Yet, severe mismatch in mechanical properties at this interface remains a major challenge. Conventional conductors are significantly more stiff (E~ GPa) than soft tissues (E~ kPa), which can lead to inflammatory encapsulation of implants and misdirection of differentiating cells. Moreover, conventional rigid conductors cannot accommodate the dynamic motions of bodily surfaces, hindering the effective transmission of electrical signals across the bio-electronic interface. Finally, in stark contrast to the 3D nature of cell-cell and cell-environment interactions, typical electronic interfaces are planar and 2D, which not only limits the potential density of bio-electronic interactions but can also negatively impact cell fate. In this talk, I will describe the progress we have made towards using conjugated polymers to design next-generation conductive materials with tissue-level stiffness, high stretchability, and the capability to interface with biological targets in 3 dimensions.

Conductive hydrogels for next-generation bio-electronic interfaces: Stiffness, stretchability, and dimensionality

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

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