Advanced Materials for Biomedical Applications
As the field of biomedical engineering has become more precise and sophisticated, the demand for highly-functionalized biomaterials has risen. In particular, novel organic/inorganic hybrid biomaterials with two or more chemical, physical, and optical properties are currently being developed and applied in various biomedical fields. Now we are focusing on the development of advanced materials using organic/inorganic hybridization. The nanoparticular hybrid materials can be applied to drug delivery, biomedical imaging, cancer immunotherapy, photomedicine, and gene editing, while the hybrid nanocomposites can be utilized to scaffolds for tissue engineering, vascular implants, and dental implants.
Biomaterials for Cancer Immunotherapy
Recently, cancer immunotherapy has received attention as a viable solution for the treatment of refractory tumors. However, it still has clinical limitations in its treatment efficacy due to inter-patient tumor heterogeneity and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Biomaterial-based approaches can be powerful tools for this purpose, as biomaterials allow us to deliver a variety of immunotherapeutic agents at the right time and place. Now we are developing new strategies for cancer immunotherapy using advanced biomaterials.
Image-guided Therapy
In interventional oncology, a field derived from interventional radiology, image guidance is used to diagnose and treat cancer in a minimally invasive fashion. Local delivery of therapeutics to tumors located in various organs can be achieved through the use of medical imaging devices such as X-rays, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), fluorescent optical imaging, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in conjunction with minimally invasive intravascular catheters or biopsy needles. The benefits of image-guided local therapy include a dramatic reduction in drug dose, which in turn ameliorates side effects, promotes rapid recovery, and decreases cost. Due to their inherent physicochemical properties, nanoparticles have been used in the development of multiple imaging agents. Now we are developing functional biomaterials based on nanoparticles for image-guided therapy.