Our research contributions have been in several areas of drug delivery, biomaterials, biomolecular engineering, mass transfer, kinetics and reaction engineering, polymers and biomedical engineering. The multidisciplinary approach of his research in biomolecular engineering blends modern molecular and cellular biology with engineering to generate next-generation systems and devices, including bioMEMS with enhanced applicability, reliability, functionality, and longevity. The fundamental studies of our group have provided valuable results on biomaterials design and development. Physiologically-controlled and disease-responsive, feedback control-based devices require the operation/function of electrical and mechanical parts as a result of on-line measurement of physiological variables of the body, blood or other biological fluids. We utilize the basics of biomedical transport phenomena, control theory, and kinetic behavior to design novel devices and to optimize their behavior in the body or in contact with the body. Research in physiologically-responsive devices seeks to show how it is possible to use classical and biomedical engineering principles, mathematics, transport phenomena and control theory to design devices and artifical organs, often based on "intelligent materials," which are responsive to changes in the surrounding environment. We have developed feedback control devices, such as glucose-sensitive microsensors that can respond to abnormal glucose levels by releasing incorporated insulin to the blood at desired rates. Such feedback control systems are now perfected for use in treatment of diabetes. In addition, we develop temperature-sensitive devices which can be used for treatment of malaria by release of antipyretics, etc.

Our group is internationally known for our work on the preparation, characterization and evaluation of the behavior of compatible, crosslinked polymers known as hydrogels, which have been used as biocompatible materials and in controlled release devices, especially in controlled delivery of drugs, peptides and proteins, development of novel biomaterials, biomedical transport phenomena, and biointerfacial problems. Our research has examined fundamental aspects of the thermodynamics of polymer networks in contact with penetrants, the conformational changes of networks under load or in the presence of a diluent, the anomalous transport of penetrants in glassy polymers, and the kinetics of fast UV-polymerization reactions. In the field of controlled release, our group has provided the fundamental basis for a rational development of such systems. In addition, our work has led to a series of novel controlled release systems known as swelling controlled release systems, a series of pH-sensitive devices for drug delivery and a wide range of bio- and mucoadhesive systems. Other biomedical work of our group had dealt with understanding of transport of biological compounds in tissues, analysis of polymer/tissue interactions, and understanding of the behavior of biomembranes.

Our research has led to the development of a number of biomedical polymers and devices. For example, we were the first to develop the freezing-thawing technique for preparation of novel poly(vinyl alcohol) gels in 1975. This technique led to a number of novel biomedical materials. Our group pioneered the use of hydrogels in drug delivery applications, including epidermal bioadhesive systems and systems for the release of theophylline, proxyphylline, diltiazem, and oxprenolol. The first applications of this work were made public in 1979. Using intelligent polymers as early as 1984, our group was the first to use such pH-sensitive and temperature-sensitive systems for modulated release of streptokinase and other fibrinolytic enzymes. Our group has also developed novel buccal and vaginal controlled release devices.

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