Projects

We developed the World-Thinnest Wound Dressing Material "Nano Plaster" based on the polymer nanosheet technology. The nanosheet shows 10s to 100s of nanometer thickness, while the surface area can be tuned from micrometer to meter scale, thus showing unique phyiscal and mechanical properties such as ultra-flexibility and physical adhesiveness to the living body. Currently, we are investigating variety of polymers as a building block of the nanosheet. We are also strongly collaborating with medical schools as well as medical companies to translate the original technology from bench to bedside.

Keywords: Polymer nanosheet, Nano plaster

https://www.waseda.jp/inst/wias/news/2017/06/23/4434/

https://stfc.nistep.go.jp/…/ja/weekly-weakly-sign…/nanosheet

https://www.nature.com/articles/pj201638

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.200900103

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.200700661

Tissue engineering is expected to be a promising technology for future medical applications and contribute to regenerative medicine, in vitro drug-screening systems and bio-hybrid robotics. To this end, inspiration from natural tissue structure is important for designing smart surfaces of biomaterials for directing cellular organization (e.g., anisotropic alignment of muscle fibers). We envisage the fabrication of ultrathin scaffolds that topographically mimic the microstructure of extracellular matrix and engineer biological tissue using microfabrication techniques.

Keywords: Cell delivery, Bio-hybrid system, SoftRobotics

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl401237s

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201304183

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/admt.201600064#support-information-section

https://rdcu.be/72KQ

Integration of flexible electronics into nano-biomaterials is expected to open a new avenue for medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Such devices should be adopted to physical and mechanical environment of a living body to direct biological signals. In this regard, emerging technologies of nanosheet-based devices are introduced, which named as “printed nanofilms” with the idea of combining nanosheet and printed electronics by printing/loading conductive materials, chemical sensors, and electronic elements. The nanosheet-based device allowed for monitoring biosignals (e.g., surface electromyogram, body temperature, pH) and also directing biofunctions with wirelessly delivering a light into the lesions for photodynamic therapy.

Keywords: Bioimaging, Electromyogram, Wireless power feeding

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.6b06075

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2015/tc/c5tc00750j#!divAbstract

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/tc/c6tc04469g#!divAbstract

https://rdcu.be/234U

https://bioengineeringcommunity.nature.com/users/170678-kento-yamagishi/posts/36729-tissue-adhesive-patch-delivers-light-for-cancer-phototherapy