Laser Processing of Microstructured and Nanostructured Medical Devices

Two photon polymerization is a 3D printing method that involves use of femtosecond laser pulses for selectively polymerizing photosensitive resins into structures with microscale and/or nanoscale features. The nonlinear nature of two photon absorption enables creation of structures with features below the diffraction limit. Several types of photosensitive materials, including acrylate-based polymers and inorganic-organic hybrid materials, may be processed using two photon polymerization. Recent medical applications of two photon polymerization have included processing of scaffolds for tissue engineering as well as microneedles for transdermal drug delivery and sensing. In this talk, the functionality of the two photon polymerization-created medical devices will be discussed. In addition, use of in vitro studies for assessing the biocompatibility of two photon polymerization-processed materials and approaches for improving the biocompatibility of two photon polymerization-processed materials will be considered. Our results indicate that two photon polymerization is an attractive 3D printing method for scalable production of many types of small-scale medical devices.
 
Dr. Roger Narayan is a Professor in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University. He is an author of over one hundred publications as well as several book chapters on processing of microstructured and nanostructured biomaterials. He currently serves as an editorial board member for several biomaterials journals, including as editor-in-chief of the Elsevier journal Materials Science and Engineering C: Materials for Biological Applications. Dr. Narayan has been elected as Fellow of AIMBE and ASM International.