Intellectual Property Office

Non-Confidential Disclosures

“Polymeric Nanofibers for Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery”

PSU Inv. Disc. No 2976
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Fig. 1: Poly[bis(carboxylato phenoxy)phosphazene (PCPP) used in the invention

Keywords

Tissue engineering; wound care; nanofibers

Inventors:

H. Allcock, C. Laurencin, P. Brown, J. Bender, Y. Greish, L. Nair, S. Bhattacharyya

Links:

US Patent 7,235,295
Inventor website

Background:

Polymer fibers have been used in numerous medical applications. For example, sutures are made of polymer fibers, either non-biodegradable polymers or biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactide-co-glycolide). Fibers are also woven or meshed to form wound dressings, tissue engineering matrices, gauzes and bandages, and drug delivery devices (where the drug is encapsulated within the polymers, and released by diffusion and/or degradation). These polymeric fibers typically have diameters of 50 microns or greater, many in the range of 100 to 300 microns. They are limited by virtue of the inflexibility of the materials they are formed from. It would be desirable to vary the properties of these materials without having to modify the composition of the polymeric materials. The invention addresses the need for new forms of polymeric fibers for use in medical applications, especially tissue engineering, medical devices, and drug delivery.

Invention description:

Polymeric nanofibers have been developed which are useful in a variety of medical and other applications, such as filtration devices, medical prosthesis, scaffolds for tissue engineering, wound dressings, controlled drug delivery systems, cosmetic skin masks, and protective clothing. These can be formed of any of a variety of different polymers, either non-degradable or degradable. In a preferred embodiment demonstrated in the following examples, nanofibers are formed of biodegradable and non biodegradable polyphosphazenes, their blends with other polyphosphazenes or with organic, inorganic/organometallic polymers as well as composite nanofibers of polyphosphazenes with nanosized particles such as hydroxyapatites.

Advantages:

• Tissue engineering
• Wound care
• Drug delivery
  

Contact:

Bradley A. Swope
Sr. Technology Licensing Officer
Intellectual Property Office
113 Technology Center
The Pennsylvania State Univ.
University Park, PA 16802-7000
Phone: (814) 863-5987
Fax: (814) 865-3591
E-mail:bradswope@psu.edu