Agnieszka Ewa Wiacek

Title : Physicochemical characteristics of the bioactive substances films deposited onto PEEK or PEEK/bioglass

Abstract:

Nowadays, biomedical engineering makes great attempts to develop materials that could imitate living tissues (mechanical properties or biocompatibility). Among them is polyetheretherketone (PEEK) which despite owing very similar mechanical properties to human bones, does not induce the appropriate cellular response (osseointegration) through limited cell adhesion as an effect of chemical passivity and low surface free energy. In the research it was proposed to activate PEEK with air plasma in order to produce single- and multi-component films of biologically active substances on its surface (antibacterial chitosan, bioglass supporting osseointegration, typical components of biological membranes or an immunosuppressive cyclosporine (preventing from implant rejection) to change and improve its surface properties and biocompatibility. Various methods were used of layer formation (solution spreading, dip-coating and the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique). The use of the LB technique required the characterization of layers deposited at the liquid/gas interface to select the optimal transfer parameters and information on the interactions of the layer components. The modified PEEK surfaces were characterized mainly by changes of surface wettability, surface free energy and its components based on the contact angle and its hysteresis for the test liquids, topography and surface chemistry using the following techniques: profilometry, FTIR, BAM, AFM and TOF-SIMS. During researches, it was also possible to produce multi-component and multi-layer films on the PEEK surface for controlled desorption of the CsA after contact with aqueous solutions.

Audience Take Away:

• The combination of chitosan and bioglass allow to obtain a film on the surface of PEEK showing significant biocompatibility.
• The obtained results and conclusions have a permanent value in the scientific literature.
• These can be extremely useful for further development of interdisciplinary research on the optimization of the properties of polymers applied in implantology.
• These can be also helpful for obtaining an ideal biomaterial with a wide range of applications.

Biography:

Prof. Agnieszka Ewa Wiącek studied chemistry in 1989-1994 at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (Poland) and in 1994 was employed as a research assistant in the Department of Physical Chemistry. She received D. Sc. degree in chemistry in September 2000 on the base of PhD thesis including the effect of natural stabilizers on oil/water emulsion stability. In 2013 she received Dr. habilitation degree in physical chemistry writing dissertation titled “Effect of the selected biologically-active substances, mainly phospholipids and (phospho)lipases on the interfacial properties of dispersed systems” and in 2018 associate professor position. She published about 90 scientific papers (including 15 monoauthor’s paper) which were cited according to GoogleScholar about 1700 times. Additionally she is author or co-author of about 100 conference' presentations. In 1997-2004 she was an examiner of Recruitment Commission of Chemistry Faculty in Lublin and outer cities. She was promoter of more than 50 master of science thesis (M. Sc) or licentiate thesis (B. Sc.) and 2 doctoral thesis. She participated in 6 scientific projects including international projects.