(504d) Biosponge Polymer Membranes for Capturing Unwanted Toxins in the Body

Due to longer life expectancies, the prevalence of age-related diseases is increasing rapidly, and the need for developing biomedical devices that can solve big health problems is similarly greater. Inspired by absorption columns, which are routinely used in industry to remove pollutants from chemical streams, this research describes the design of biomedical devices for capturing unwanted toxins in the body. One significant benefit of using polymer membranes is their tunable binding affinity to target molecules using specific chemical, physical, or biological features. One example is using properly designed polymers to remove cancer chemotherapy drugs that are not taken up by the target tumor during chemotherapy to reduce the drugs’ toxic side effects. In the context of reducing the toxicity of chemotherapy, we have designed, built, and deployed porous adsorbers for capturing chemotherapy drugs before they spread through the body.