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The University of Southampton
Chemistry

Natural Polymers of Bacterial Origin and Their Medical Applications Seminar

Dr Ipsita Roy
Time:
12:00
Date:
5 March 2014
Venue:
Building 27, Room 2001 Chemistry Highfield Campus University of Southampton Southampton SO17 1BJ

For more information regarding this seminar, please email Dr Jon Watts at J.K.Watts@soton.ac.uk .

Event details

Ipsita Roy presents a seminar as part of the Molecular Diagnostics and Theraputics group's seminar series.

Ipsita Roy - Natural Polymers of Bacterial Origin and Their Medical Applications

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are natural polymers produced by bacteria under nutrient limiting conditions. These polymers are biodegradable and biocompatible in nature and hence can be used in a variety of applications. These include bulk applications such as packaging, coating materials, adhesives and in medical applications such as tissue engineering, wound healing, medical device production and drug delivery. PHA synthases are the main enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of PHAs. Due to their varied mechanical properties and degradation rates, PHAs can be used to replace a range of tissue types including bone, nerve, cartilage, cardiac and skin. In addition, they can be used for short term and long term controlled drug delivery. The talk will describe various PHA biosynthetic pathways, the PHA synthase enzyme, various modes of PHA production and their application in hard and soft tissue engineering, biodegradable stent production, wound healing and controlled drug delivery applications.

Basnett P., Kyon Y.C., Stolz M., Knowles J. C., Boccaccini A.R., Smith C., Locke C.I., Roy I. 2013 “Aspirin loaded PHA films: new materials for biodegradable drug eluting stents.” Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials 2(BBN3):141-153

Basnett P., Kyon Y.C., Stolz M., Knowles J. C., Boccaccini A.R., Smith C., Locke C.I., Keshavarz T., Roy I. 2013 “Novel Poly (3-hydroxyoctanoate)/ Poly (3-hydroxybutyrate) blends for Medical Application” Reactive and Functional Polymers, 73:1340–1348

Basnett P., Knowles J. C., Pishbin F., Smith C. , Keshavarz T., Boccaccini A.R., Roy I. 2012 “Novel Poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate)/Bacterial Cellulose Composites ” Advanced Biomaterials 14(6) B330–B343

Rai R., Keshavarz T. , Roether J. A., Boccaccini A. R., Roy I. 2010; “Medium chain length polyhydroxyalkanoates, promising new biomedical materials for the future.” Material Science Engineering (Reviews) 73(3): 29-47

Philip, S. Keshavarz, T., Roy I. 2007 “Polyhydroxyalkanoates: biodegradable polymers with a range of applications.” Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology 82 (3):233-247

Valappil S.P., Misra S.K., Boccaccini A.R., Roy I. 2006; “Biomedical applications of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), an overview of animal testing and in vivo responses.” Expert Review in Medical Devices 3(6): 853-868

Speaker information

Dr Ipsita Roy , Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, London. . Dr Ipsita Roy is an expert in microbial biotechnology, natural biomaterials and their biomedical applications. She is currently a Reader at the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, London. Ipsita was awarded the prestigious Inlaks Scholarship and the Overseas Research Students Award to study for her Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. During her time at Cambridge she was awarded the Churchill College Scholarship, the Lundgren Scholarship, Leche Trust Scholarship and the Cambridge University Philosophical Society Fellowship Award. Her PhD at the Department of Biochemistry was on a B12-dependent enzyme, methylmalonyl-CoA mutase. Her postdoctoral work was at the University of Minnesota, USA, at the Bioprocess Technology Institute, where she worked on fatty acid biosynthesis. Subsequently, Ipsita taught at the Indian Institute of Technology, India, for four years as an Assistant Professor. During this time she worked actively on the production of biodegradable polymers from Streptomyces. Ipsita has been at the University of Westminster since 2000 and leads the Applied Biotechnology Research Group. She has published over 100 papers in high ‘Impact Factor’ journals such as Biomaterials, Biomacromolecules, Journal of Royal Society Interface. She has presented her work at numerous international conferences. Her group is currently focussed on the production of novel polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a group of FDA-approved natural polymers and their characterisation. She has pioneered the production of PHAs from Gram positive bacteria which lack immunogenic properties and hence are excellent materials for medical applications. Her group is involved in the application of PHAs in the area of hard tissue engineering, soft tissue engineering, wound healing and drug delivery. She is an editor of the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (JCTB) and was the special editor of an In Focus Issue of JCTB on Biodegradable polymers. She is on the BBSRC, NSERC, Canada, FWF, Austria and NSFC, China, ESF, MUIR grant-reviewing panels and is the Vice Chair, Biotechnology Group, SCI, London, UK. Her work has been funded by the EPSRC, EU, DuPont and WESTFOCUS, London. Ipsita is currently the scientific coordinator of a large EU FP7 project, REBIOSTENT, worth 4.9 million Euros with 14 consortium members from Europe. She is also the work package leader of another large EU FP7 project, NEURIMP, worth 4.4 million Euros with 8 consortium members. Both projects involve the use of PHAs for medical applications, drug eluting biodegradable stents and nerve guidance conduits.

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