We describe, for the first time, the design, production and evaluation of large microneedle patches. Such systems, based on 16 individual microneedle arrays (needle height 600μm), were prepared from aqueous blends of 15% w/w Gantrez® S97 and 7.5% w/w poly(ethyleneglycol) 10,000Da. Ester-based crosslinking was confirmed by FTIR and mechanical strength was good. Insertion depths in a validated sk...

BACKGROUND Since the late 1990s corneal crosslinking (CXL) has been proposed as a new treatment option which can stop progression of keratoconus with promising results in adults. OBJECTIVE Keratoconus presents a higher rate and faster progression in paediatric patients and for this reason prompt and effective treatment is essential. Due to its success in adult keratoconus patients, CXL has be...

Dynamic crosslinking of extremely stretchable hydrogels with rapid self-healing ability is described. Using this new strategy, the obtained hydrogels are able to elongate 100 times compared to their initial length and to completely self-heal within 30 s without external energy input.

The geometric structure of a biopolymer network impacts its mechanical and biological properties. In this paper, we develop an algorithm for extracting the network architecture of three-dimensional (3d) fluorescently labeled collagen gels, building on the initial work of Wu et al., (2003). Using artificially generated images, the network extraction algorithm is then validated for its ability to...

We image semiflexible polymer networks under shear at the micrometer scale. By tracking embedded probe particles, we determine the local strain field, and directly measure its uniformity, or degree of affineness, on scales of 2-100 microm. The degree of nonaffine strain depends upon the polymer length and cross-link density, consistent with theoretical predictions. We also find a direct corresp...

A simple and rapid colorimetric pH meter has been developed based on the conformational switch of i-motif DNA and non-crosslinking AuNP aggregation, the average accuracy of the nano-meter was found to be +/-0.04 pH unit across the physiological operating range.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005244.].

Starting from a Zimm model, we study self-diffusion in a solution of crosslinked monomers. We focus on the effects of the hydrodynamic interaction on the dynamics and the critical behaviour at the sol-gel point. Hydrodynamic interactions cause the clusters' diffusion constant to depend not only on the cluster's size but also on the cluster's shape --in contrast to the Rouse model. This gives ri...

We present a model for disordered 3D fiber networks to study their linear and nonlinear elasticity. In contrast to previous 2D models, these 3D networks with binary crosslinks are underconstrained with respect to fiber stretching elasticity, suggesting that bending may dominate their response. We find that such networks exhibit a bending-dominated elastic regime controlled by fiber length, as w...

We study trie elfects of threeand fourfold crosslinks on wormlike micelles. This