This book is dedicated to the field of conductive polymers, focusing on electrical interactions with biological systems. It addresses the use of conductive polymers as the conducting interface for electrical communications with the biological system, both in vitro and in vivo. It provides an overview on the chemistry and physics of conductive polymers, their useful characteristics as well as limitations, and technologies that apply conductive polymers for medical purposes. This groundbreak...

The surface modification of biomaterials plays a significant role in determining the outcome of biological-material interactions. With the appropriate modification a material's surface can be tailored to improve biocompatibility, adhesion and cell interactions. Consequently surface modification is vital in the development and design of new biomaterials and medical devices. Surface modification of biomaterials reviews both established surface modifications and those still in the early stage...

Nanotechnology is at the forefront of advances in medicine. Nanomedicine: Technologies and applications provides an important review of this exciting technology and its growing range of applications.After an introduction to nanomedicine, part one discusses key materials and their properties, including nanocrystalline metals and alloys, nanoporous gold and hydroxyapatite coatings. Part two goes on to review nanomedicine for therapeutics and imaging, before nanomedicine for soft tiss...

Nanomedicine can take advantage of the recent developments in nanobiotechnology research for the creation of platforms with superior drug carrier capabilities, selective responsiveness to the environment, unique contrast enhancement profiles, and improved accumulation at the disease site. This book provides a broad glimpse of how various dendritic nanomaterials have been designed and used as efficient tools for nanomedicine. It comprises a pedagogic introduction to dendrimers and hyperbran...

Success or failure of biomaterials, whether tissue engineered constructs, joint and dental implants, vascular grafts, or heart valves, depends on molecular-level events that determine subsequent responses of cells and tissues. This book presents the latest developments and state-of-the-art knowledge regarding protein, cell, and tissue interactions with both conventional and nanophase materials. Insight into these biomaterial surface interactions will play a critical role in further develop...

Biomedical sensors are an essential tool in the detection and monitoring of a wide range of medical conditions from cancer to Parkinson's disease. Biosensors for medical applications provides a comprehensive review of established, cutting edge and future trends in biomedical sensors and their applications.Part one focuses on key principles and transduction approaches, reviewing electrochemical, piezoelectric and nano-sized biosensors. Impedence interrogated affinity biosensors for medical ...

Functionalized Conjugated Polyelectrolytes presents a comprehensive review of these polyelectrolytes and their biomedical applications. Basic aspects like molecular design and optoelectronic properties are covered in the first chapter. Emphasis is placed on the various applications including sensing (chemical and biological), disease diagnosis, cell imaging, drug/gene delivery and disease treatment. This book explores a multi-disciplinary topic of interest to researchers working i...

Characterisation and Design of Tissue Scaffolds offers scientists a useful guide on the characterization of tissue scaffolds, detailing what needs to be measured and why, how such measurements can be made, and addressing industrially important issues. Part one provides readers with information on the fundamental considerations in the characterization of tissue scaffolds, while other sections detail how to prepare tissue scaffolds, discuss techniques in characterization, and present practic...

The field of microfluidics has in the last decade permeated many disciplines, from physics to biology and chemistry, and from bioengineering to medical research. One of the most important applications of lab-on-a-chip devices in medicine and related disciplines is disease diagnostics, which involves steps from biological sample/analyte loading to storage, detection, and analysis. The chapters collected in this book detail recent advances in these processes using microfluidic devices and sy...

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the potential use of graphene-based materials in two important societal areas: medicine and the environment. It discusses how new graphene-based materials can be creatively used for biological purposes, for example as delivery vehicles for diagnostics or therapeutics, ultrasensitive sensors, smart responsive substrates for artificial-tissue design and biomarkers. Moreover, it presents new insights into their use as sorbent or photocatalytic ma...

Nanomaterials, with their unique size-dependent physical and chemical properties, have shown promising advantages as drug and gene delivery vehicles, ultra-sensitive intracellular detectors and novel therapeutic drugs. Nanopharmaceutics is one of the disciplines that will benefit the most from this technology.Nanotechnology will have a revolutionary impact on cancer diagnosis and therapy due to the exceptional characteristics of nanopharmaceutics.This book provides an overview of some tool...

Given their direct impact on the health and quality of life for millions, inhalers represent a major turning point in the history of modern medicine. Inhaler devices: Fundamentals, design and drug delivery provides readers with an introduction to the fundamentals of inhaler technology, with a comprehensive discussion of the history of inhalers as well as a discussion on current research and development.Part one discusses the fundamentals and development of inhaler devices as well as drug f...