Design and synthesis of novel polymers for the additive manufacturing of biomedical devices

This University of Reading funded studentship targets the discovery of dynamic biocompatible supramolecular polymer networks for deposition via additive manufacturing techniques to create new biomedical devices. The project will provide excellent training in the field of polymeric materials – it will involve organic and polymer synthesis, characterisation of the new materials (using techniques such as NMR, IR, UV spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis (DSC, TGA) in the University’s Chemical Analysis Facility) plus GPC analysis (available in the Hayes group research laboratory) in addition to physical assessment of the polymeric materials via rheology and tensiometry (these instruments are available in the Hayes research laboratory). The project will involve collaboration with research groups from the Centre for Additive Manufacturing and the School of Pharmacy at the University of Nottingham to study the 3D printing of the novel supramolecular polymers[1,2] and their biocompatibility. In addition to gaining invaluable scientific technical skills, this project will also develop the ability of the postgraduate student to conduct independent research by providing training on the use of databases (such as Web of Knowledge, Scifinder Scholar, Reaxsys), presentation skills and writing reports. By the end of the PhD training, the student will be able to design and execute reactions, interpret complex analytical datasets, and summarise this information in a variety of formats (such as in presentations at group meetings or international conferences or in peer-reviewed publications).