Abstract of “Nanoengineered plasma polymer films for biomedical applications”

In my talk I will present recent developments from our group on various nanoengineered biomaterial coatings that are facilitated by plasma deposition. These include antibacterial coatings, drug release platforms and cell guidance/capture surfaces.

We have developed various strategies for generation of antibacterial coatings that can be applied to medical service surfaces. These involve means such as surface silver nanoparticles, antibiotics, nitric oxide, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) or simply coatings that have intrinsic low fouling properties. Important for applications, we not only extensively test our coating for their antibacterial efficacy but also assess their potential cytotoxicity to mammalian cell and inflammatory consequences. We have also developed methods for the synthesis and surface immobilisation of hybrid antibacterial nanocapsules and nanoparticles. 

My talk will also outline our research on advanced plasma polymer based coatings capable of directing cellular behaviour. We have developed a range of surface gradients such as of chemistry, bound ligand and protein densities, nanomechanics and nanotopography. We have used these gradients to interrogate the behaviour of various cell types, including stem cells. In my talk, I will focus on recent work where we used gradients of nanoparticles density to study the influence of surface nanotopography of cell behaviour. Our data demonstrates that surface nanotopography strongly affects the adhesion of fibroblasts and osteoblasts, and alters the level of expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines from microphages and neutrophils. I will present a strategy for developing gradients of surface elastic modulus. Our studies on the adhesion and proliferation of primary human fibroblasts show that these cells prefer stiffer surfaces. I will also present our surfaces that are capable of driving the differentiation of stem cells via surface chemistry, nanotopography or density of signalling molecules.