{"id":93046,"date":"2022-03-29T18:38:41","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T16:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testweb.ibecbarcelona.eu\/research-groups\/bioinspired-interactive-materials-and-protocellular-systems\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:39:56","slug":"quasi-living-materials","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ibecbarcelona.eu\/ca\/quasi-living-materials","title":{"rendered":"Quasi-Living Materials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ABOUT<\/h2>\n
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Mastering communication between synthetic or hybrid materials with tissues is one of the grand challenges of contemporary biomedical systems that our society demands.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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We want to uncover design rules to develop materials capable of communicating with living matter \u2014pathogens, cells, tissues\u2014 and directing its behavior in a self-regulated manner to enable new biomaterials, therapeutics, and medical devices<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Biosensors fail to accurate diagnose diseases. Orthopedic implants cause inflammation and often rejection. Bacteria colonize wound dressings, catheters, and implants with devastating outcomes. Bacteria have grown resistant to many therapies. The surface of oxygenator membranes activate coagulation posing serious risks of thrombosis and stroke. These and many more examples have in common that the interface of the synthetic material is not sufficiently compatible resulting in deleterious signals to the living counterpart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature blueprints are our inspiration<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like a master engineer, nature assembles its building blocks, molecules, in several levels of hierarchy from where function emerge. All the information necessary for this assembly is encoded in the molecular structure. We are inspired by natures\u2019 and use its design principles to create materials that seamlessly interface with living matter to develop new paradigms for biomedicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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RESEARCH LINES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MOLECULAR ENGINEERING<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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We are excited about using nature\u2019s blueprints to make new molecules like \u201cLego\u201d pieces that assemble into structures with totally new functions. Our synthetic palette is built from various types of advanced controlled radical polymerizations, click ligations, and supramolecular chemistry. We like to focus on water-soluble and amphiphilic molecules because of the unique aspects of the assembly in aqueous environments. Our box of toys includes multiblock copolymers, combs, stars, brushes, protein-polymer hybrids, dendrimers, and arborescent polymers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Macromolecular engineering: We synthesize macromolecular building blocks and program in their molecular structure their assembly and function<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
STEALTH AND ADAPTIVE BIOINTERFACES<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our goal is to develop adaptive coatings that interact and direct the biological surrounding in a self-regulated manner and their translation to medical and diagnostic applications. A cornerstone for this goal is to have selectivity, which means to be invisible to unwanted interactions while enhancing the specific ones. We are specialists in building \u201ccloaks of invisibility\u201d. These are nanoscale coatings that protect the surface against molecular fouling as well as bacterial colonization. They are also very important because they conceal the presence of synthetic materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But invisibility is not enough, so we decorate the surfaces with biomolecules and create feedback loops with the surrounding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Examples: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Optical affinity biosensors for the early diagnosis of (rare) diseases. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Coatings that can sense the state of blood and selectively interfere with coagulation but just locally without affecting global hemostasis. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Kill&Repel coatings that simultaneously prevent cellular adhesion and kill bacteria using mechanisms are selective and do not generate the emergence of resistance.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
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    \"C\u00e9sar<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
    (A) Nature\u2019s way to control the presence of clots inspires us to develop (B) adaptive hemocompatible coatings that in normal conditions are dormant and invisible to blood but that the presence of a dangerous clot causes its activation. In an active state, the coating directs blood to digest the clot thereby protecting the surface of the material.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
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