Functionalised biopolymers for regenerative and therapeutic soft robotics

In the last decade alone, degenerative diseases have featured heavily in the ten leading causes of death. Degenerative diseases and injuries have not only seen a marked increase in mortalities but are also the major contributor to the rising disability in our aging populations. As a result, there has been significant interest in developing improved implantable medical devices, which aim to replace, support, and restore the function and mobility lost by diseased tissues.

The extra cellular matrix (ECM) of tissues is an excellent base material for therapeutic and regenerative biomedical devices, since they can mimic the biological, chemical and physical environment experienced by cells in healthy tissue. However, the biomedical devices currently fabricated from the ECM have limited tunability or dynamic control once implanted within the body. The aim of this project is to develop soft robotic biomedical devices from biological polymers. Soft robots are flexible, have a high specific strength and high response rates which make them ideal for applications requiring sensitive motions. Biopolymers are an attractive material choice for biomedical soft robots: they are abundant, biodegradable, and can offer excellent biomimicry if derived from the ECM. However, these polymers typically display limited stimulus-driven shape change on their own.

As part of the project, the student will optimise the electroactivity of tissue-derived biopolymers and eventually develop a proof-of-concept therapeutic device for an application of their interest. Possible applications include (but are not limited to) drug delivery, neural and cardiac stimulators, sensors for cell attachment and proliferation. The project will involve the fabrication and structural characterisation at the nano- and micro-scale, assessment of electrical activity and opportunities for in-vitro/in-vivo testing.