Recent advances in plastics technology for medical care: Dr Mosongo Moukwa

Dissolvable sensor to monitor brain

Scientists from Washington University and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign have developed a wireless device the width of a human hair that can be implanted in the brain and activated by remote control to deliver drugs. These are wireless bioresorbable brain sensors capable of measuring intracranial pressure and temperature before being absorbed in the body. The devices are made of polylactic-coglycolic acid (PLGA) and silicone. They represent a revolutionary development for neuroscientists who can now temporarily monitor intracranial pressure and temperature with accuracy. Once the device is no longer needed, the body absorbs it.

Implantable elastomeric and shape memory materials

Gelest Inc, a materials technology company, has developed a new class of elastomers with unprecedented elongation and shape recovery abilities. The new materials, based on silicone with different functional groups, approach 5000 percent elongation at break, allowing engineers to create microfluidic devices used in ‘in vitro’ diagnostics that can withstand movement, elongation, and distortion, yet still retain functionality. They can be stretched, rolled, and inserted into a syringe, injected through a small opening into the body and then, once in place, can return to its original shape. 

Stretchable films to monitor cancer patients

A thin, stretchable film, developed at the University of Michigan that can coil light waves like a Slinky could make monitoring of cancer survivors more effective and less expensive. The film is based on the same material used for contact lenses (PDMS), twisted and coated with nanoparticles of gold to induce reflectivity, then untwisted. It provides a simpler, cost effective way to produce circularly polarised light, an essential ingredient in a process that could provide an early warning of cancer recurrence. More frequent monitoring could enable doctors to catch cancer recurrence earlier.

New hybrid polymers that can regenerate

A completely new hybrid polymer that incorporates rigid and soft nano scale compartments, which can be removed and regenerated, has been developed by Northwestern University scientists. This polymer is capable of contracting and expanding like muscles and rapidly responding to environmental stimuli. It can be used in implantable materials to deliver something and then chemically regenerated to function again. Other applications of interest include the creation of artificial muscles or other life-like materials, delivering biomolecules or other chemicals, self-repairing materials and replaceable energy sources.

Stretchable polymer for wearable electronics

Panasonic has developed a soft, flexible, and stretchable polymer resins films that can stretch more than 2.5 times its relaxed length and return to its original form without any damage.  The film is based on a thermosetting resin with a 3-D cross-linked structure that makes it flexible and stretchable. It outperforms other films by retaining its mechanical properties after repeated deformation. It is also an insulator, adding to its potential in wearable devices as well as in transparent, stretchable electrodes. 

Sponge like polymer for spinal injury

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have developed a biodegradable polymer grafts designed to repair damaged vertebrae in the spinal column. The polymer adapts itself into the appropriate size and shape once implanted in the body. Derived from a dehydrated hydrogel, surgeons would simply plant these capsules into gaps in the spinal cord (resulting from either surgery or another injury), and our body’s fluids would then activate the polymer, allowing them to expand to the proper proportions.

Endless possibilities

There are so many exciting new materials and processing techniques that, alone or in combination, will enable the healthcare industry to create innovative, next-generation products. They will allow more effective treatments and the promise of better patient outcomes. The combination of plastics and engineering will continue to revolutionise medical care as far as we can see.
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Email: mosongo@mosongomoukwa.com

Opinions expressed here by the author are his own and do not represent the views of the company