Final Report Summary - SUPRACHEMMED (Supramolecular Chemistry in Medicine:Towards Complex Molecular Biomaterials that are Indistinguishable from Nature)
The SupraChemMed program aimed at the development of biomaterials that can act as synthetic extracellular matrices (ECM). Different aspects of the ECM were mimicked using supramolecular chemistry. Achievements have been obtained on the delivery of various drugs from supramolecular hydrogels (thereby mimicking the way how chemokines and growth factor proteins are presented in the natural ECM), and on the development of reactivated supramolecular coatings and solid-materials using a mix-and-match approach. These solid materials were also studied for their applicability in a bioartificial kidney set up. Furthermore, we have shown the possibility of performing post-modification reactions on these supramolecular solid-material surfaces, which opens the way to make bioactive scaffolds for in-situ tissue engineering. Additionally, high throughput screening methods showed to feasibility of such supramolecular systems to study cell-material interactions, and to truly make multi-component, multi-functional biomaterials.