Materials for Biomedical Applications

International customers, please contact your local Sigma-Aldrich office. For worldwide contact information, please see back cover. Material Matters is also available in PDF format on the Internet at sigma-aldrich.com/matsci. Aldrich brand products are sold through Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. warrants that its products conform to the information contained in this and other Sigma-Aldrich publications. Purchaser must determine the suitability of the product for its particular use. See reverse side of invoice or packing slip for additional terms and conditions of sale. All prices are subject to change without notice. Introduction Welcome to the third 2010 issue of Material Matters™ entitled " Materials for Biomedical Applications, " which highlights exciting scientific developments at the interface between the disciplines of materials science, medicine, chemistry, and biology. Professor David F. Williams (University of Liverpool) succinctly defines biomaterials as " nonviable materials used in medical devices, intended to interact with biological systems. " In fact, biomaterials are rarely used as isolated materials but are more commonly integrated into devices or implants. The biological response to the final fabricated biomedical device will ultimately govern its success or failure. The field's rapid growth over the last half century was driven by advances in materials synthesis techniques combined with a rigorous application of engineering principles to the design of materials expressly for biomedical applications. Some of the developments and key enabling materials are presented in this issue. The issue begins with an article by Professors Françoise Winnik (University of Montreal) and Teruo Okano (Tokyo Women's Medical University) on the use of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) as a thermally responsive grafting material for the harvesting of cell cultures used in tissue engineering. In the following article, Professor Mariah Hahn (Texas A&M University) describes the methods available to achieve 2D and 3D patterning of poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels in order to control the placement of biochemical cues that guide the development of functional tissues. Professor David Martin and his colleagues from the University of Delaware discuss electrical interfacing of tissues with implantable electrostimulation devices using conjugated thiophene polymers. Moving toward new R&D opportunities for materials engineers, Professors James Stansbury and Christopher Bowman (University of Colorado) describe recent progress in the development of monomers and polymers for dental restorative composites. Currently, many of the composite materials are engineered at the nanoscale. To conclude the issue, a research team led by Professors Andre Nel and Jeffrey Zink from UCLA reports on their high-throughput strategy for …