Hydrogels are polymeric materials distinguished by high water content and diverse physical properties. They can be engineered to resemble the extracellular environment of the body's tissues in ways that enable their use in medical implants, biosensors, and drug-delivery devices. Cell-compatible hydrogels are designed by using a strategy of coordinated control over physical properties and bioactivity to influence specific interactions with cellular systems, including spatial and temporal patterns of biochemical and biomechanical cues known to modulate cell behavior. Important new discoveries in stem cell research, cancer biology, and cellular morphogenesis have been realized with model hydrogel systems premised on these designs. Basic and clinical applications for hydrogels in cell therapy, tissue engineering, and biomedical research continue to drive design improvements using performance-based materials engineering paradigms.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/336/6085/1124.full.pdf

Designing Cell-Compatible Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Hydrogel biomaterials: A smart future?

Hydrogels in a historical perspective: from simple networks to smart materials.

Synthetic hydrogels with engineered, cell-mediated degradation sites are an important category of biomimetic materials. Here, hydrogels are synthesized by a step-growth reaction mechanism via a radically mediated thiol-norbornene (thiol-ene) photopolymerization. This reaction combines the advantages of ideal, homogeneous polymer network formation, facile incorporation of peptides without post-synthetic modification, and spatial and temporal control over the network evolution into a single system to produce proteolytically degradable poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) peptide hydrogels. Using a thiol-ene photopolymerization, rapid gelation times are achieved, while maintaining high cell viability for cell encapsulation. The enzyme- and cellresponsive characteristics are demonstrated by tailoring the rate of spreading of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) through both the selection of proteolytically degradable crosslinkers and the density of the adhesion peptide RGDS. Furthermore, cellular function is manipulated spatially within the thiol-ene hydrogels through biochemical photopatterning. The high degree of spatial and temporal control over gelation, combined with robust material properties, makes thiol-ene hydrogels an excellent tool for a variety of medical and biological applications.

/pdf/a-versatile-synthetic-extracellular-matrix-mimic-via-thiol-1kgvrz1dep.pdf

A Versatile Synthetic Extracellular Matrix Mimic via Thiol‐Norbornene Photopolymerization

https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/49224/1/Pol53-9_1805-1822.pdf

Super tough double network hydrogels and their application as biomaterials

Soft contact lens polymers: an evolution

An ophthalmic lens suited for extended-wear periods of at least one day on the eye without a clinically significant amount of corneal swelling and without substantial wearer discomfort. The lens has a balance of oxygen permeability and ion or water permeability, with the ion or water permeability being sufficient to provide good on-eye movement, such that a good tear exchange occurs between the lens and the eye. A preferred lens is a copolymerization product of a oxyperm macromer and an ionoperm monomer. The invention encompasses extended wear contact lenses, which include a core having oxygen transmission and ion transmission pathways extending from the inner surface to the outer surface.

Extended Wear Ophthalmic Lens

An ophthalmic lens suited for extended-wear for periods of at least one day on the eye without a clinically significant amount of corneal swelling and without substantial wearer discomfort The lens has a balance of oxygen permeability and ion or water permeability, with the ion or water permeability being sufficient to provide good on-eye movement, such that a good tear exchange occurs between the lens and the eye A preferred lens is a copolymerization product of a oxyperm macromer and an ionoperm monomer The invention encompasses extended wear contact lenses, which include a core having oxygen transmission and ion transmission pathways extending from the inner surface to the outer surface

Methods of forming an extended wear ophthalmic lens having a hydrophilic surface

An ophthalmic lens screening method suited for extended-wear for periods of at least one day on the eye without a clinically significant amount of corneal swelling and without substantial wearer discomfort. The lens has a balance of oxygen permeability and ion or water permeability, with the ion or water permeability being sufficient to provide good on-eye movement, such that a good tear exchange occurs between the lens and the eye. A preferred lens is a copolymerization product of a oxyperm macromer and an ionoperm monomer. The invention encompasses extended wear contact lenses, which include a core having oxygen transmission and ion transmission pathways extending from the inner surface to the outer surface.

Methods of using and screening extended wear ophthalmic lenses

This entry discusses the structural features of silicone hydrogels as contact lens polymers, including morphology and how innovators in this fi eld have addressed the well-recognized problems of corneal hypoxia caused by contact lens wear and the notorious hydrophobic and lipophilic characteristics of silicone containing polymers.

Paul Clement Nicolson

Papers

Soft contact lens polymers: an evolution

Extended Wear Ophthalmic Lens

Methods of forming an extended wear ophthalmic lens having a hydrophilic surface

Methods of using and screening extended wear ophthalmic lenses

Contact Lenses: Silicone Hydrogels