Biotechnological polymers for advanced technologies and applications

Biotechnological polymers are polymers produced through fermentative processes or chemical synthesis protocols involving the use of fermentative monomers. Their properties, such as intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability, make them ideal materials to be employed for biomedical applications. The aim of the present PhD project was the investigation of natural and synthetic biotechnological and biobased polymers for the development of new biomaterials to be employed for the fabrication of biomedical devices. Natural polymers, i.e., polyhydroxyalkanoates and polysaccharides, and synthetic bio-based polymers, i.e., poly(α-hydroxyacids), were processed employing conventional fiber spinning techniques and tailored additive manufacturing approaches to obtain 3D bioactive scaffolds for tissue engineering or drug-loaded systems in the form of polymeric microrods. The developed scaffolds for tissue engineering were loaded with bioactive calcium phosphate-based ceramics to increase their mechanical properties, such as the stiffness and strength, as well as their bioactivity, to make them suitable for bone tissue regeneration. The developed drug delivery systems were loaded with the flavonoids naringenin and quercetin, to make them suitable as medical implants for the treatment of ocular inflammation caused by neurodegenerative diseases, or to develop 3D scaffolds endowed with an antioxidant activity for optimized tissue regeneration processes.