Bioinspired hydrogels build a bridge from bench to bedside

During million years, Nature has created a �wealthy repertoire of novel features.� These features are frequently used in the fabric of artificial materials, referred to as �biomaterials.� Hydrogels are among the most attractive biomaterials because they are highly amenable to accept nature-derived properties/functionalities. The inclusion of these features in biomaterials serves as promising tools for today's most urged clinical needs, among others. In this review, we explore the major applications of different bioinspired hydrogels. We focused on rationale design, multi-faceted biomimetics strategies, and their potentials utility in the clinic. For the clinical application, we focused on four major clinical areas of i) regenerative medicine, ii) tissue engineering, iii) cancer therapy, and iv) bioinspired devices/actuators/robots. We discussed how incorporating nature-inspired properties into hydrogels� design can introduce novel solutions to the many unresolved and persistent problems in biomedicine. Finally, given the complexity of bioinspired hydrogels, we propose that a collective effort among the material scientists, artificial intelligence experts, clinicians, and life sciences is required to pave the path for the entrance of bioinspired hydrogel into personalized medicine and from bench to bedside. © 202

Surface modification of polyaniline nanorods with thiol-terminated poly(ethylene oxide)

Electrochemically grown polyaniline (PAni) thin films have been shown to react efficiently with thiols, which can dramatically change the surface properties of the material without significantly impacting bulk conductivity. Such films, however, are difficult to process and are unsuitable for many applications. Here, we demonstrate the grafting of thiol-terminated poly(ethylene oxide) (PEG-SH) of various molecular weights onto PAni nanorods. The resulting materials are characterized by spectroscopic, microscopic, and thermal analytical methods to demonstrate the covalent attachment of the PEG polymers to the nanorods. The derivatized nanorods are water dispersible and maintain their original morphology and electroactivity. The number of thiols bound to the nanoparticles under a given set of conditions decreases as the size increases, but the total mass of PEG increases with increasing size. The reaction proceeds at room temperature, but is much faster at higher temperature and greater PEG density is observed