Invention Summary:
Natural material collagen has the benefits of bioactivity, biodegradability, and innate adhesiveness and self-assemble, which allows the material to be injected into a defect of almost any geometry with minimal invasion, and then automatically become a solid to provide a stable matrix but have the limited control of mechanical properties.
Rutgers scientist Dr. David Shreiber invented a process for creating type I collagen and methacrylamide (CMA)-based hydrogel, which retains the properties of collagen such as self-assembly, biodegradability, and natural bioactivity. In addition, it is photoactive and can be rapidly cross-linked or functionalized with acrylated molecules when irradiated with ultraviolet light in the presence of a photoinitiator. CMA also demonstrates unique temperature-dependent behavior. A rapidly thermoreversible collagen-based hydrogel is expected to have wide utility in tissue engineering and drug delivery applications. With similar approach, Dr. Shreiber and his collaborators have made some other photocrosslinkable and thermoreversible materials like CMA. These materials can be used to improve the performance of products typically made from collagen, such as scaffolds for tissue engineering, implantable medical devices, wound dressings and tissue replacement materials for cosmetic or reconstructive surgery.
Market Application:
- Bioengineering
- Wound dressing
- Tissue regeneration
- Reconstructive medicine
- Drug delivery/release
- Differentiation of stem cells
Advantages:
- Ability of Self-assemble
- Bioactivity and cytocompatibility
- Enhanced mechanical strength and stiffness
- Controllable spatial modulation
- Stability under photoinitiation procedure
- Optimal environment for tissue regeneration
Intellectual Property & Development Status:
Issued Patent (US 8,658,711 B2); Available for licensing and/or collaboration
