Advanced Technologies and Polymer Materials for Surgical Sutures

Professor Sabu Thomas is the Director of Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He is also currently the Chairman of the Trivandrum Engineering Science and Technology Research Park (TrESPARK), Trivandrum, Kerala, India. He was the former Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India. Prof. Thomas is a highly committed teacher and a remarkably active researcher well-known nationally and internationally for his outstanding contributions in polymer science and nanotechnology. He has published over 1400 research articles in international refereed journals. and has also edited and written 210 books. His H-index is 140 and total citations are more than 94,000. He has supervised 125 PhD theses. He has received many international and national awards and recognitions. Under the leadership of Prof. Thomas, Mahatma Gandhi University has been transformed into a top University in India. Professor of Polymer Engineering, Director, Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Polymer Science and Technology, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK Ben currently leads the RKT Centre for Polymer Micro and Nano Technology based at the University of Bradford which provides a key resource for industry working to bring micro and nano scale components to market, alongside internationally recognised pioneering academic research in the field. Blessy Joseph is a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. She earned degrees in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Kerala, India, including a master’s focused on Molecular Medicine. She later pursued her PhD in the same field at Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India. Her research focuses on nanotechnology, drug delivery systems, biomaterials, and polymer nanocomposites for tissue engineering. Dr Nair graduated from Bharathi Vidyapeeth College of Pharmacy (India) with a Bachelor Degree in Pharmacy and he gained a PGDip in pharmacology from Nottingham Trent University. He also has an MSc in drug delivery from Aston University, Birmingham. In 2014 he completed his PhD in Pharmaceutical Engineering from Polymer IRC, University of Bradford and since then he is working as a Post-Doctoral Researcher on Healthcare Impact Partnership project on Smart Manufacturing of Medical Devices for soft tissue fixation (e.g. rotator cuff and anterior cruciate ligament repairs; fixations for fracture (including intramedullary nails) and knee joint replacements). The aim of this collaborative project is to exploit unique capabilities in shape memory polymers and biomaterials for enhanced biomedical cementless fixations using controlled shape reversion, in clinically relevant timescales, and open up opportunities for new solutions in orthopaedic repairs, which will have a defined route to regulatory certification and a clear patent pathway.

1. Introduction to biopolymers for surgical suture applications
2. Functionalization of sutures
3. Improving the therapeutic value of sutures
4. Evaluating the mechanical properties of sutures
5. Polymers for surgical sutures
6. Smart sutures
7. Bioactive sutures: advances in surgical suture functionalization
8. Engineering aspects of suture fabrication
9. Revisiting the properties of suture materials: an overview
10. Suture materials, emerging trends
11. Biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of polymer sutures
12. Shape memory polymers as sutures
13. Drug release kinetics of sutures