Our research activities center on the design, synthesis and analysis of implantable polymeric biomaterials and the engineering of medical devices.
There is a wide variety of materials which are foreign to the human body that are used in direct contact with its organs, tissues and fluids. These materials are called Biomaterials and, among them, Biomedical Polymers play a key role.
The impressive progress in Biomaterials Science has made possible the development of a diversity of implantable medical devices, which have had a tremendous impact on human health and on the wellbeing of patients across the globe. Nevertheless, only a new generation of biomedical systems, combining pioneering concepts and novel tailor-made materials, will permit further progress.
Our research starts by identifying and understanding an important unmet clinical need, designing and synthesizing the required new polymers, going then all the way to the engineering of the medical device and the analysis of its in vivo performance.
Two medical devices based on biodegradable polymers developed in our laboratory have been approved for clinical use by the FDA and other leading regulatory agencies worldwide. Several additional polymeric medical devices developed in our laboratory are currently at various stages of their industrial development and regulatory process.
Special emphasis is currently given to: (1) Generating the polymeric basis and the working concepts required to develop novel in situ generated implants, and (2) Developing 3D printed personalized cardiac devices, in collaboration with the Heart Institute at the Hadassah Medical Center.