Hyrdogels & coatings

Life science is a field requiring very specific and demanding applications. To meet these needs, POLYINTELL designs polymers with special properties. These polymers can be found in two different formats as intelligent hydrogel or as functional smart coating or surface:

Hydrogels are three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric networks capable of swelling with large amounts of water. The networks are composed of homopolymers or copolymers, and are insoluble due to the presence of chemical or physical cross-links. Hydrogels resemble natural living tissue more than any other class of synthetic biomaterials. Furthermore, the high water content of the materials contributes to their biocompatibility. Thus, hydrogels can be used as contact lenses, membranes for biosensors, linings for artificial hearts, materials for artificial skin, encapsulation and drug delivery devices.

Based on this POLYINTELL has developed HYDROINTELLIGENT, the functional and smart coating ables to obey to specific tasks. They can be used as membranes for biosensors or protein arrays by allowing immobilization of the capture probes and by preventing non specific adsorption of proteins. The hydrophilic behaviour of the surface can vary by tuning the hydrophilic /hydrophobic balance or by using a stimuli-responsive polymers.