Carbohydrate-Based Polymers and Nanomaterials for Advanced Technologies
· Invited
Abstract
Carbohydrate-based polymers, termed polysaccharides, are ubiquitous in Nature. They perform a wide range of functions, including providing structural support in plant cell walls, generating swelling pressure in mammalian tissues, protecting microbes from dehydration and toxins, storing solar energy, and regulating binding events on cell surfaces. Owing to their diverse structures and properties, polysaccharides have found numerous industrial and medical applications. For example, they are used to increase the viscosity of food products and drilling fluids, stabilize emulsions, suspensions, and foams, form gels, prevent ice crystal formation, and protect wounds during healing. This presentation will showcase recent efforts at Virginia Tech toward the development of polysaccharide-based advanced technologies with biomedical and drug delivery applications.
*This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. CHE-0724126 and DMR-0907567, the United States Department of Agriculture under Grant Nos. 2005-35504-16088 and 2011-67009-20090, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under Grant No. HE 2054/11-1, Omnova Solutions, Inc., Tembec, Inc., the Institute for Critical Technologies and Applied Science, the Macromolecules Innovation Institute, and the Department of Sustainable Biomaterials at Virginia Tech.
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Presenters
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Maren Roman
- Department of Sustainable Biomaterials, Virginia Tech