Prof. Roman Surmenev: about Materials and Technologies Poised to Transform Medicine

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Prof. Roman Surmenev: about Materials and Technologies Poised to Transform Medicine

Custom-designed bones. Bioresorbable scaffolds that fully resorb in the body after tissue regeneration. Nanoscale robots for theranostics, capable of targeted drug delivery and release. Artificial synapses connecting brain neurons and non-volatile memory systems for neuromorphotropic programming. All these are not far-fetched fantasy narratives, but quite a tangible reality.

Such breakthrough technologies is what the research group of Roman Surmenev, Professor at the Research School of Chemistry and Applied Biomedical Sciences of Tomsk Polytechnic University, is doing. In particular, they collaborate with Andrei Kholkin, Director of the Center for Piezo- and Magnetoelectric Materials, set up under a megagrant from the Russian Government.

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- In modern science, the advancement is associated with an interdisciplinary approach. This is particularly important when it comes to the creation of materials for medical use. Healthcare providers cannot synthesize the material they need on their own, as it requires the competencies of chemists, material scientists and physicists. We, on our part, are unable to test the material immediately because we cannot fine-tune its properties as to its biological characteristics. Likewise with renewable energy and other fields of science. To create viable and applicable materials we need those who actually work with them.

About the team

- Our team consists of about 20 people, including physicists, material scientists, chemists, biochemists, and biology specialists. Most of them are students and postgraduates, but there are also more experienced researchers such as young PhD holders. This is a principled stance. The entire global science is created by young people. Early adulthood is when humans are at their prime, full of research drive and ambition. Yet, it is important to be supported by more experienced colleagues.

Young researchers who would like to join the group's projects are welcome to contact Roman Surmenev, Director of the Research Center of Physical Materials Science and Composite Materials at [email protected] or at Lenin Avenue, 43 (TPU building No. 3), office 118.

About research projects

- The Research Center of Physical Materials Science and Composite Materials is engaged in advanced interdisciplinary research areas. For example, we develop and study new biodegradable materials for bone defect repairs. As part of this work, we study various surface modification techniques of materials and biomedical implants, thus creating surfaces with the desired properties that determine material behavior in vivo.

We develop additive technologies, namely volumetric and 3D printing technologies based on virtually any material. They help to manufacture products of a given size, structure, porosity and shape based on computer modeling for use in medicine, robotics and the automotive industry. Our niche is materials based on various metals, primarily for the manufacture of implants, flexible biomedical electronics and robotics.

Another area of research is multiscale modeling of various properties of advanced materials. In particular, we use the first-principle approach, which helps to improve materials at the design stage. This line of work is supervised by Irina Grubova, Senior Researcher at the Center, Cand. Sc. in Physics and Mathematics.

In addition, our team is one of the few in Russia creating smart materials with piezo- and magnetoelectric properties for biomedical applications. Such materials exhibit two unique properties. Firstly, they are capable of generating a small electric charge with no external power source as a result of mechanical deformation or load. Secondly, they are capable of wireless power transmission under human-safe magnetic fields. This line of research is led by Roman Chernozem, Senior Researcher at the Center, Cand. Sc. in Physics and Mathematics, in cooperation with the International Research Center for Piezo- and Magnetoelectric Materials led by Professor Andrey Kholkin.

About key advantages of piezo- and magnetoelectric materials

- Piezo- and magnetoelectric materials are substances consisting of several components with different physical and chemical properties. It gives the materials with improved characteristics for research and applied purposes, which are superior to the existing analogs.

Basically, the magnetoelectric effect works as follows. Magnetoelectric materials consist of a magnetostrictive component (core) and a piezoelectric shell. Mechanical deformation of the core under magnetic field causes a microvoltage in the piezoelectric shell and generates an electric charge on its surface. By exposure to an external magnetic field, we can redistribute this surface charge, that is, change the polarization. This is what gives unique properties to such materials. For example, non-invasive controlled drug delivery and release in the human body, which sets our developments apart from well-known analogs.

Our materials are free of toxic elements, like lead in particular, which makes them biocompatible. We aim to achieve the desired characteristics in lead-free form, and to maintain and improve the material properties by modifying their structure and phase composition.

About scaffold technologies

- The development of different scaffold types is a globally trending practice. These are cellular matrices used for regeneration of various tissue types and are commonly used in combination with biological carriers. A sort of scaffolds for bones and cells made of polymers and composites. In our team, this topic is studied by the group of Maria Surmeneva, Leading Research Fellow at the Center, Cand.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics. They have developed unique scaffolds made of polyoxyanoates which are biodegradable polymers produced by bacteria. Such scaffolds are fully non-toxic and they resorb in the body once new bone tissues are formed, while the breakdown products are eliminated from the body with no side effects. Our technology has already undergone preclinical trials.

About nanoparticles for theranostics

Nanoparticles with magnetic or magnetoelectric properties can act as drug carriers or can be used as drugs themselves. Thus, their injection into certain areas of the cerebral cortex makes it possible to control the behavior of a living organism i.e. to stimulate or suppress activity by externally manipulating the electric field. This can be explained by the fact that particles change their charge state, while the charge through electrical interactions with tissues gives a certain physiological effect. We are now exploring this effect of nanostructures to develop neurostimulators to treat Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. This is a challenge for scientists all over the world that has not yet been solved.

Another potential effect of nanostructures is to induce targeted chemical and biochemical reactions at the cellular level. That means we can trigger not only regeneration, but also the opposite effect. This may turn out to be an effective method of killing cancer cells.

About nanoparticles for theranostics

Our recent achievements include the triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure materials. They can potentially find application in biomedical implants and energy-absorbing structures. We are currently exploring ways to produce them by additive printing.

Another promising area is the development of magnetic field driven conduits, an artificial tubular cavity based on piezopolymers and magnetic nanoparticles for nerve tissue repair. At this stage, we are conducting cellular studies exposed to an alternating magnetic field to evaluate their biocompatibility and bioactivity.

A relatively new line of our work is the development of materials and devices supporting human-computer interaction, neural network functioning and big data processing methods. In all these aspects the materials developed by research centers of the School of Chemistry and Applied Biomedical Sciences are competitive as compared to their world analogues. For example, piezo- and magnetoelectric materials are essential for various microelectronic devices, but they are still relatively poorly studied as materials for artificial synapses and neuromorphotropic programming. The group led by me is working to create devices that simulate artificial synapses that connect individual neurons in a biological organism. We are also developing artificial neurons themselves and non-volatile memory systems. This opens up potential for new breakthrough achievements in artificial intelligence.