Polymers in Regenerative Medicine

Biomedical applications of Polymers from Scaffolds toNanostructures

The ability of polymers to span wide ranges of mechanicalproperties and morph into desired shapes makes them useful for avariety of applications, including scaffolds, self-assemblingmaterials, and nanomedicines. With an interdisciplinary list ofsubjects and contributors, this book overviews the biomedicalapplications of polymers and focuses on the aspect of regenerativemedicine. Chapters also cover fundamentals, theories, and tools forscientists to apply polymers in the following ways:

• Matrix protein interactions with synthetic surfaces
• Methods and materials for cell scaffolds
• Complex cell-materials microenvironments in bioreactors
• Polymer therapeutics as nano-sized medicines for tissuerepair 
• Functionalized mesoporous materials for controlleddelivery 
• Nucleic acid delivery nanocarriers

Concepts include macro and nano requirements for polymers aswell as future perspectives, trends, and challenges in the field.From self-assembling peptides to self-curing systems, this bookpresents the full therapeutic potential of novel polymeric systemsand topics that are in the leading edge of technology.

Manuel Monleón Pradas is Professor at the TechnicalUniversity of Valencia, Spain, where he founded and headed theCentre for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (1999–2009).He was Head of the Biomaterials Unit at the Centro deInvestigación Príncipe Felipe (Valencia, Spain), and hasbeen visiting professor at the University of Paris-XI. He hasauthored over 160 papers in the fields of polymer science andbiomaterials.

María J. Vicent is Head of the Polymer TherapeuticsLaboratory at Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe(Valencia, Spain). She has expertise in several aspects of polymertherapeutics field, from synthesis of nanopharmaceutics to theirbiological evaluation in different cell and in vivo models. Dr.Vicent has coauthored over 70 papers and 7 patents in the field.Furthermore, in 2012, she cofounded a spin-off company namedPolypeptide Therapeutic Solutions SL, Spain, based on a familypatent from her own group.