University of Puerto Rico
Mayagüez Campus
Chemistry Department
Departmental Seminar
Celebrating the 75th. Anniversary of the ACS of Puerto Rico
by
Dra. Madeline Torres Lugo
Professor
Chemical Engineering Department
Friday, February 3rd, 2023
Abbot Seminar Room
10:30 am
Titulo: Design and Characterization of tunable polymers for cell culture and biomanufacturing
Abstract:
There is a need for the use of tailored synthetic hydrogels for in vitro tissue culture and biomanufacturing applications. These synthetic platforms provide the advantage of creating a microenvironment without significant batch-to-batch variability. To that end, this work focused on the molecular design, characterization, and preliminary evaluation of thermo-responsive, transparent synthetic terpolymers based on N-isopropylacrylamide, for cell manufacturing and culture applications. Physical properties were characterized by various techniques including FT-IR, 1H-NMR, DLS, rheology, and thermal-gravimetric analysis. Results from various combinations yielded polymers with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) between 30 and 45 °C. Mechanical properties of various terpolymer combinations resulted in elastic/shear modulus that varied between 0.3 and 19.1 kPa at 37 °C. In vitro characterization indicated low cellular toxicity on various cellular models. Several of these cell models were successfully encapsulated showing the terpolymers’ capacity to sustain cells while encapsulated without interfering with staining or imaging protocols. These results indicate a promising use of terpolymers as a tunable scaffold for cell culture applications.
