Fundamental Biomaterials: Polymers

Dr. Sabu Thomas (Ph.D.) is the Director of the School of Energy Materials, School of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology of Mahatma Gandhi University, India. He received his Ph. D. in 1987 in Polymer Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, India. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, London, and a member of the American Chemical Society. He has been ranked no.1 in India about the number of publications (most productive scientists). Prof. Thomas’s research group specialized areas of polymers which includes Polymer blends, Fiber filled polymer composites, Particulate-filled polymer composites and their morphological characterization, Ageing and degradation, Pervaporation phenomena, sorption and diffusion, Interpenetrating polymer systems, Recyclability and reuse of waste plastics and rubbers, Elastomer cross-linking, Dual porous nanocomposite scaffolds for tissue engineering, etc. Prof. Thomas’s research group has extensive exchange programs with different industries, research, and academic institutions all over the world and is performing world-class collaborative research in various fields. Professors Centre is equipped with various sophisticated instruments and has established state-of-the-art experimental facilities which cater to the needs of researchers within the country and abroad. His H Index- 133, Google Citations- 86424, Number of Publications- 1300, and Books-160.Preetha Balakrishnan is Principal Scientist at ADSO Naturals Private Limited, Banglore, Karnataka, India. Her area of interest is Polymer Science incorporating Nano materials, and topic of research is Starch based nanocomposites at IIUCNN, M.G. University, Kottayam, in the group of Prof. Sabu Thomas. Dr. Sreekala Meyyarappallil Sadasivan is recognized for her research in the field of polymer macro, micro and nanocomposites, polymer foams and their blends. After receiving her Ph.D. in Chemistry (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam), she held research positions in the Japan and Germany before joining the Sree Sankara College. Currently she is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at School of Chemical Sciences, director of School of Polymer Science and Technology (SPST) and Joint director of School of Nanoscience and Technology (SNST) and International and Inter University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IIUCNN), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. The research in Sreekala’s laboratory is focused on development and property improvements of polymer composites for high end automotive, aerospace and structural applications, development of fully biodegradable, green and sustainable polymer composites from natural fibers, biopolymers etc. for industrial application, electronic applications of polymer nanocomposites such as nanogenerators, electromagnetic shielding (EMI) etc., biomedical applications of polymer composites for effective wound healing and development of biofiller entrapped polymer nanocomposites for water remediation. She was ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the world (Rising Stars List) according to a subject-by subject study undertaken by a team from Stanford University and Scopus experts for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. She has an h-index of 38 and total citation of 7306. She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Indian Rubber Institute, and was the recipient of JSPS and AvH fellowship, CSIR senior research fellowship and ICS-UNIDO fellowship.

• 1. Polymeric Biomaterials: state of the art and new challenges2. Polysaccharides as Biomaterials (Cellulose Chitin and chitosan Starch based Biodegradable polymers)3. Natural Rubber as biomaterials4. Silicon Rubber as biomaterials5. Synthetic biodegradable polymers for biomedical application6. Polymeric Nanoparticles for Targeted Delivery of Bioactive Agents and Drugs7. Evolution of Current and Future Concepts of Biocompatibility Testing8. Polymer-Based Colloidal Aggregates as a New Class of Drug Delivery Systems9. Plasma Polymerization and Plasma Modification of Surfaces for Biomaterials Applications10. Smart polymers as Biomaterials11. Polymeric biomaterials for organ regeneration12. Polymeric Micelles as Pharmaceutical Carriers. Polymeric Vesicles13. Natural Polymers as Components of Blends for Biomedical Applications14. Biodegradable Polymeric Composite Scaffolds to Regenerate Bone Tissue15. Textile Based Biomaterials for Surgical Applications16. Polymeric Micro and Nanoparticles as Drug Carriers17. Polymers Scaffolds18. Synthetic Polymeric Membranes: Classification, Preparation, Structure and Transport Mechanisms19. Physicochemical Characteristics of Biopolymers20. In Vivo Biocompatibility Studies: Perspectives on the Evaluation of Biomedical Polymer Biocompatibility21. Applications of Synthetic Polymeric Biomaterials in Medicine and Biotechnology22. Engineering polymers for heart valve replants and for artificial hip joints23. Wear and fatigue behaviour of polymeric biomaterials24. Life cycle analysis of polymeric biomaterials25. Cytotoxicity of polymeric materials