Prof. Gordon Wallace, "Organic Bionics- nanodimensional cues for nerve cell growth"
Prof. Gordon Wallace from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Australia, will present a seminar entitled Organic Bionics - Nanodimensional Cues for Nerve Cell Growth at 3 pm on Wednesday 20th April in HG09, in the Research and Engineering Building in DCU.
The effective interfacing of biology and electronics is changing how we think about medical science. Just as the bionic ear revolutionised the world of the deaf, the development of the bionic eye, neural interfaces for prosthetic devices and regenerative bionic devices are amongst pursuits that will have a widespread impact. The performance of all of these devices is determined by the characteristics of the electrode - cellular interface that assembles in response to the material compositions and structures used (1).
The range of conducting materials available to us has been greatly expanded in recent years since the discovery of conducting polymers and the development of protocols for producing nanostructured carbons. These classes of materials are attracting increasing interest in the field of bionics (see publications 1,2 and references cited therein).
Here we will present our most recent findings in interfacing with nerve and muscle cells (3,4). The use of conducting polymers as a platform to support and stimulate nerve growth has proven highly effective. The use of nanodimensional fibers as topographical cues has enabled the control of the direction of nerve cell growth. Our recent studies demonstrate that this compatibility is dependent on the inherent nanostructure of ICP surfaces (5). Furthermore, the introduction of nanostructure via templates has been shown to enhance the ability of ICPs to provide electrically stimulated release of bioactive molecules at the interface (6).
Most organic conductors are not amenable to traditional processing and fabrication options. However, nanodispersions of ICPs or CNTs are readily processable into long lengths of micro-dimensional fibres (7,8) or nano-dimensional fibres via electrospinning (9). They are also printable (10), potentially providing the active component of a range of new “inks” for bionic engineering applications.
Many challenges and opportunities remain in this exciting area of research and some of these will be discussed.
References
(1) Wallace, G.G., Moulton, S.E., Clark, G.M. Science 2009, 324, 185-186.
(2) Wallace, G.G., Moulton, S.E. Chemistry in Australia 2009, 76, 3-8.
(3) Quigley, A.F., Razal, J.M., Thompson, B.C., Moulton, S.E., Kita, M., Kennedy, E.L., Clark, G.M., Wallace, G.G., Kapsa R.M.I. Advanced Materials 2009, 21, 4393-4397.
(4) Razal, J.M., Kita, M., Quigley, A.F., Kennedy, E., Moulton, S.E., Kapsa, R.M.I., Clark, G.M., Wallace, G.G. Advanced Functional Materials 2009, 19, 3381-3388.
(5) Gelmi, A., Higgins, M.J., Wallace, G.G. Biomaterials 2010, 31, 1974-1983.
(6) Thompson, B.C., Chen, J., Moulton, S.E., Wallace, G.G. Nanoscale 2010, 2, 499-501.
(7) Granero, A.J., Wagner, P., Wagner, K., Razal, J.M., Wallace, G.G., in het Panhuis, M. Advanced Functional Materials 2011, 21, 955-962.
(8) Foroughi, J., Ghorbani, S.R., Peleckis, G., Spinks, G.M., Wallace, G.G., Wang, X.L., Dou, S.X. Journal of Applied Physics 2010, 107, 103712-1 -103712-4.
(9) Liu, X., Chen, J., Gilmore, K.J., Higgins, M.J., Liu, Y., Wallace, G.G. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A 2010, 94A, 1004-1011.
(10) Weng, B., Shepherd, R.L., Crowley, K., Killard, A.J., Wallace, G.G. Analyst 2010, 135, 2779-2789.