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In recent years, there has been a lot of interest in using nanotechnology in medicine to diagnose and cure various infectious diseases. Although the precise mechanism of action is frequently challenged, many nanosized materials have been extensively explored for this purpose, using their innately unique features. Their functionality has also been enhanced by the addition of various coatings, such as those that increase chemical stability and stealth properties or contain targeting agents that lessen off-target effects while producing effective'smart'nanoplatforms for the early detection, treatment, and possibly resolution of diseases. This book aims to compile research and review articles that concentrate on the synthesis, characterization, and applications of nanomaterials, such as nanoparticles, with a focus on investigating novel ways to improve their properties and create new efficient diagnostic, therapeutic, or theranostic approaches with a clear understanding of how they work.

Billions of people globally live under conditions of water stress and water shortage, or with contaminated water sources. Anthropogenic contaminants pose an extra challenge as water purification technology must be constantly developed or upgraded to deal with newly fabricated pollutants. One of the UN sustainable development goals is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Therefore, it is vital to develop novel materials and technologies for producing clean drinking water in a human safe, economically reasonable and environmentally sustainable way. Novel Materials and Water Purification introduces recent approaches to the fabrication of novel materials for water purification and discusses several significant applications including removal of heavy metals and pharmaceuticals. This is a timely work of high interest to researchers and learners in the fields of water science, water management and materials science.

Hydrogels are highly hydrated three dimensional networks with the ability to mimic the extracellular matrix of bodily tissues and have thus found application in a wide range of biomedical applications. Unique physiochemical properties such as biocompatibility, water permeability, stimuli responsiveness and self-healing characteristics make them especially useful for use as scaffolds and matrices drug delivery, tissue engineering/regeneration and sensing. Their weak and brittle nature, however, often limits their widespread application where improved mechanical strength is required. To resolve this problem, there has been a significant amount of research into the improvement of their mechanical properties. Among these efforts, versatile multicomponent hydrogels have received much attention as their physiochemical properties can be structurally engineered to provide a wide range of desired properties. These multicomponent formulations also allow for the combination of natural and synthetic polymers, which offers the scope to exploit the advantages of each component, with the synergistic effects resulting from mutual interactions. This book critically discusses the fundamental chemistry, synthesis, characterisation, physiochemical and biological properties of various types of multicomponent hydrogels. It reviews the different strategies employed in designing and synthesizing cutting-edge multicomponent hydrogels and their key applications in biomedical fields. The work is suitable for researchers working in the specific area of multicomponent hydrogels, and also more generally for those working in materials science, biomedical engineering, biomaterials science and tissue engineering.

Current environmental and energy concerns have led to lignin gaining increased attention in the last decade as a renewable biomass. Due to its structural and functional properties, such as antimicrobial behaviour, biodegradability, biocompatibility and ease of surface modifications, lignin-based materials have gained popularity in the biomedical field with applications ranging from tissue engineering scaffolds and wound dressing materials to drug delivery carriers. Using this book, the reader will learn about the chemistry of lignin, and the characterization, fabrication and properties of lignin-based composites with different matrices (thermosets, thermoplastics, elastomers etc.). In addition, the book illustrates how these materials are used in medical applications, covering drug delivery, wound dressing, tissue engineering, imaging, etc. Providing a neat overview of the current research for the biomaterials science community, this book is a one-stop resource for researchers and practitioners working on lignin-based biomaterials. For those active in the broader fields of materials science and biomedical engineering, this will be a useful reference and study aid.

The tumour microenvironment is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to cancer progression and treatment. However, most cancer studies continue to be performed in 2D tissue culture dishes that do not capture the characteristics of the tumour niche. This book provides an introduction to the rich chemical, topographical, and mechanical cues in the tumour microenvironment and then introduces readers to bioengineering strategies, including scaffold design and synthesis, chemical signalling and delivery, and co-culture, microfluidics, and organ-on-a-chip tools that can be used to mimic tumour microenvironment features. This book also includes discussion of emerging imaging methods compatible with tumour microenvironment mimicking biomaterials and discusses applications of such models in immuno-oncology, metastasis, and drug screening.Edited by two leaders in the field, this book will appeal to graduate students and researchers working in biomaterials science, chemical and biomedical engineering departments.