Biopolymers for Medical Applications

This book presents an experimental and computational account of the applications of biopolymers in the field of medicine. Biopolymers are macromolecules produced by living systems, such as proteins, polypeptides, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides. Their advantages over polymers produced using synthetic chemistry include: diversity, abundance, relatively low cost, and sustainability. This book explains techniques for the production of different biodevices, such as scaffolds, hydrogels, functional nanoparticles, microcapsules, and nanocapsules. Furthermore, developments in nanodrug delivery, gene therapy, and tissue engineering are described.

Juan M. Ruso is Professor of the Department of Applied Physics at University of Santiago de Compostela. Ruso’s scientific contributions are from such diverse areas as soft matter, biophysics, materials, and nanotechnology.

Ruso is the author of more than 150 research papers. He is co-author of the textbook “Introduction to Electromagnetism” (in Spanish) and co-editor of “Proteins in Solution and at Interfaces: Methods and Applications in Biotechnology and Materials Science.” He has held Visiting Research and Visiting Professor positions in different universities around the world, including University of Manchester, Columbia University, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Universidad Nacional del Sur, and Universidade de Sao Paulo.

Paula V. Messina is currently Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina and an independent researcher at CONICET-Argentina.

Messina is the author of more than 100 research publications and Guest Editor with the journal Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry. From 2000 to the present, she has worked on several research topics related to the study of self-assembled systems, such as amphiphilic aggregates (liquid crystals, emulsions, micro emulsions, vesicles, liposomes, and organized monolayers), and in the study of new systems with potential applications in the transport of active principles and their interaction with biological units. Her investigations eventually turned to the design and preparation of various types of organized and hierarchical inorganic and biological structures templated by self-assembly techniques. In 2010, she created her own research group, “Nanostructured materials group,” whose investigations have a particular relationship to the development of nanostructured materials with an emphasis on bio-medical applications: implants, biomarkers and drug transport.