Micro- and Nanoengineered Gum-based Biomaterials for Drug Delivery and Biomedical Applications

Micro- and Nanoengineered Gum-Based Biomaterials for Drug Delivery and Biomedical Applications focuses on micro- and nanotechnology in gums and biopolymers as drug and biomolecule carriers and their applications in biomedicine. Currently, natural gums and polymers are widely utilized as biocarrier systems, to deliver drugs and biomolecules to the target site, for prolonged release and the desired therapeutic effect. Natural gums and polymers are important because they are easily available from natural sources and are characteristically biodegradable, biocompatible, and nontoxic. Natural gums and polymers are also chemically modified with other polymers, in the presence of cross-linking agents, to develop scaffolds, matrices, composites, and interpenetrating polymer networks using micro- and nanotechnology. The book also discusses biological applications, such as gene delivery, cancer therapy, tissue engineering, bioimaging, and theranostics.

This book is an important reference source for biomaterials scientists, biomedical engineers, and pharmaceutical scientists, who are looking to increase their understanding of how micro- and nanoengineered biomaterials are being used to create more efficient gum-based drug delivery systems.

• Explains how micro- and nanoengineering is being used to make a variety of gum types more effective as nanocarriers.
• Explores the major biomedical applications of various gum classes.
• Assesses the major challenges of using micro- and nanotechnologies in gum-based biomedical systems.

Dr. Sougata Jana is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pharmaceutics at Institute of Pharmacy, Bankura, India. His research focuses on the modification of synthetic and natural biopolymers, formulation development, such as oral drug delivery, transdermal drug delivery, preparation and characterization of drug-loaded microspheres, micro-particles, nanoparticles and gels, and development of interpenetrating networking systems for drug delivery.

Dr. Subrata Jana is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, India. His research interests are molecular recognition and supramolecular chemistry, organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, protein engineering, and enzyme catalysis.