Biomaterials

Biography

Biography: Tae-il Son

Abstract

Bioactive molecules such as EGF, TGF-β, BMP-2, are very important and useful materials in medical field; regenerative medicine and pharmacy. Immobilization method is one of current researching to overcome low stability and high cost of bioactive molecules. Chemical methods have been used widely for immobilization of bioactive molecules. However, there are some of drawbacks with this method. For example, chemical method may produce potential toxic by-product, and, in case of physical method, low efficiency of immobilized bioactive material is observed. To solve these problems, recently, the immobilization by photo-immobilization has been researched widely. The advantages of photo-immobilization are 1) high selectivity of chemical reactions or processes under mild conditions (ambient temperature of also much below), 2) typically no need for added catalysts or special solvents, 3) spatially addressable effects (2D and 3D structuring possible) and 4) applicable to very small and (relatively) large scales. To use for photo-immobilization, various natural polymers, such as gelatin, chitosan, hyaluronic acid reacted by irradiation to UV or visible light can be applied for medical area to increase biocompatibility and functionality, for example, coating agent for bioinert devices like stent and implant, anti-adhesive agent, wound dressing and bio-adhesive.