RGD modified polymers: biomaterials for stimulated cell adhesion and beyond

Poly(lactic acid) modifications

One of the greatest challenges to the sustainability of modern society is an inadequate supply of clean water. Due to its energy-saving and cost-effective features, membrane technology has become an indispensable platform technology for water purification, including seawater and brackish water desalination as well as municipal or industrial wastewater treatment. However, membrane fouling, which arises from the nonspecific interaction between membrane surface and foulants, significantly impedes the efficient application of membrane technology. Preparing antifouling membranes is a fundamental strategy to deal with pervasive fouling problems from a variety of foulants. In recent years, major advancements have been made in membrane preparation techniques and in elucidating the antifouling mechanisms of membrane processes, including ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. This review will first introduce the major foulants and the principal mechanisms of membrane fouling, and then highlight the development, current status and future prospects of antifouling membranes, including antifouling strategies, preparation techniques and practical applications. In particular, the strategies and mechanisms for antifouling membranes, including passive fouling resistance and fouling release, active off-surface and on-surface strategies, will be proposed and discussed extensively.

Antifouling membranes for sustainable water purification: strategies and mechanisms

Cell-surface receptors acquire information from the extracellular environment and coordinate intracellular responses Many receptors do not operate as individual entities, but rather as part of dimeric or oligomeric complexes Coupling the functions of multiple receptors may endow signaling pathways with the sensitivity and malleability required to govern cellular responses Moreover, multireceptor signaling complexes may provide a means of spatially segregating otherwise degenerate signaling cascades Understanding the mechanisms, extent, and consequences of receptor co-localization and interreceptor communication is critical; chemical synthesis can provide compounds to address the role of receptor assembly in signal transduction Multivalent ligands can be generated that possess a variety of sizes, shapes, valencies, orientations, and densities of binding elements This Review focuses on the use of synthetic multivalent ligands to characterize receptor function

Synthetic Multivalent Ligands as Probes of Signal Transduction

The field of tissue engineering places complex demands on the materials it uses. The materials chosen to support the intricate processes of tissue development and maintenance need to have properties which serve both the bulk mechanical and structural requirements of the target tissue, as well as enabling interactions with cells at the molecular scale. In this critical review we explore how synthetic polymers can be utilised to meet the needs of tissue engineering applications, and how biomimetic principles can be applied to polymeric materials in order to enhance the biological response to scaffolding materials (105 references).

Synthetic polymer scaffolds for tissue engineering

https://ncnr.nist.gov/programs/sans/pdf/publications/0064.pdf

† and Anne-Valerie G. Ruzette

Papers

Nanoscale clustering of RGD peptides at surfaces using comb polymers. 2. Surface segregation of comb polymers in polylactide.