Contact with foreign materials such as aerogels

1. Crosslinked Aerogels Show Potential in Many Biomedical ApplicationsWei Yin, Oklahoma State University DMR 0907291 • Polyurea aerogel X-MP4-T045 is the best candidate for artificial heart valves, due to its excellent biocompatibility towards blood cells and plasma proteins, significantly improved mechanical strength and structural stability. • PBO aerogels, PBO aerogels co-polymerized with resorcinol and formaldehyde and their conversion to carbon aerogel, all can promote bone cell growth. Therefore, they are good candidates for bone graft. • Polyimide aerogels caused the lowest inflammatory responses in human plasma, suggesting its potential usage as drug delivery vesicles. SEM images (50,000X) of aerogel samples before (left) and after (right) plasma treatment. Unlike other polyurea aerogels, the structure of X-MP4-T045 remained the same after plasma treatment. Most aerogels can induce certain level of plasma inflammatory responses as foreign materials. But polyimide aerogels hardly induced any inflammatory responses. Contact with foreign materials such as aerogels Figure on the right: A biocompatible flow chamber was developed to study the hemodynamic performance of an aerogel heart valve. Numerical simulation was conducted to study the flow field in the chamber. Figure shows velocity stream lines in the chamber during systole and diastole: flow is laminar. All polyurea aerogles we tested are compatible with vascular endothelial cells (left); all PBO aerogels we tested are compatible with osteoblasts (left).

2. Crosslinked Aerogels Show Potential in Many Biomedical Applications Wei Yin, Oklahoma State University DMR 0907291 • Justin Zhong (9th grade) won the first place in his own category and also the first place in Physical Science Division in a Texas Science Fair, working on project entitled Optimization of Crosslinked Aerogel Nanostructures for Energy Absorption. (http://outreach.science.tamu.edu/tjas.asp). • Seminars on aerogel biocompatibility studies were given to undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in biomaterials at Oklahoma State University. • The PIs on this project have all contributed to an aerogel book entitled "Aerogels Handbook” • Two graduate students have graduated with their master’s theses on aerogel bio-applications. With significant contributions of undergraduate and graduate students, the team has 14 publications on this topic. The Aerogel Book Above and right: Undergraduate students working on aerogel biocompatibility assays Graduate students’ theses