Hydrogels are similar to the macromolecular-based components in the body, therefore, hydrogels have found numerous applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. Hydrogels with a large amount of water, have attracted much attention as substitute material of conventional plastics. The adhesion of hydrogels was difficult, but we successfully adhered hydrogel by electrophoretic adhesion. Therefore, I will move to the next step, and develop “Nano surgery”, “Artificial muscles”, and “Artificial organs” by electrophoretic adhesion of synthetic and natural occurring polymer gels, protein, and cells.
We recently reported a novel strategy for the adhesion of cationic and anionic hydrogels. (T. Asoh et al. Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 7793.) During electrophoresis, cationic and anionic polymers move to the cathode and anode, respectively. Then, polyions were diffused inside of the gels and adhesion was achieved through the formation of a polyion complex at the interface of the two hydrogels. The adhered hydrogels were quite stable in water, and detachment of the adhered hydrogels was also possible by simply applying the inverse voltage. The same hydrogels re-adhered when the ordered electric field was reapplied, adhesion and detachment of the hydrogels via electrophoresis exhibited repeatability characteristics (T. Asoh et al. Soft Matter 2012, 8, 1923.).
Polyion complexes composed of weak polyions are not stable in high ionic strength water because of decomposition of formative ionic interaction by salts. However, we found that a deswelling/re-swelling process of the adhered hydrogels induced resistance against bending stress, ionic strength, and inverse voltage because of a rearrangement of the surface interdigitating chain segments across the interface. We then prepared adhered multi-layer hydrogels composed of thermoresponsive and non-thermoresponsive polymer gels, which showed uniaxial movement in response to temperature without detachment (T. Asoh et al. RSC Adv. 2013, 3, 7947.).
Taka-Aki ASOH, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Osaka University
Address: 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
E-mail: asoh[at]chem.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Employment:
2007-2008
Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (DC2), Osaka University (Prof. Mitsuru AKASHI)
2008-2009
Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (PD), Osaka University (Prof. Mitsuru AKASHI)
2009-2014
Assistant Professor, Tokyo University of Science (Prof. Akihiko KIKUCHI)
2014-2017
Tenure-track Lecturer, Osaka City University
2017-
Associate Professor, Osaka University
Academic awards:
2016 CSJ Presentation Award 2016, from The Chemical Society of Japan
2015 Award for Encouragement of Research in Polymer Science, from The Society of Polymer Science, Japan
2014 Japanese and Korean Biomaterials Societies Young Scientist
Exchange Program Award(2014), from Japanese Society for Biomaterials
2012 IPC2012 Young Scientist Poster Award, from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan
2005 Excellent Poster Award, from KANSAI branch, the Society of Polymer Science, Japan
Academic societies:
Japanese Society for Biomaterials
The Society of Polymer Science, Japan
The Chemical Society of Japan
The Adhesion Society of Japan
American Chemical Society
Research interest:
1. Adhesion of hydrogels
2. Stimuli-responsive polymers and gels as biomaterials
3. Design of degradable polymers and gels