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Plasma coatings deposited from oxazoline precursors have recently emerged as a valuable utility in many biotechnology application, however, their wider utilization by researchers and industry rely on their long term performance, and more specifically on the retention of their reactivity. Yet, plasma polymers are known to be susceptible to post-fabrication oxidation processes and intrinsic restructuration. Here,the aging of coatings deposited from oxazoline precursors was studied over12 months via XPS, ToF-SIMS,and sessile drop contact angle analysis for samples stored under various conditions. The extent of the damages caused by light and oxygen are identified and explained. Storage away from ambient light and undervacuum proved to retain highreactivity toward COOH-bearingligand and biomolecules even 12 months post deposition. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Plasma polymers are unconventional organic thin films which only partially share the properties traditionally attributed to polymeric materials. For instance, they do not consist of repeating monomer units but rather present a highly cross linked structure resembling the chemistry of the precursor used for deposition. Due to the complex nature of the deposition process, plasma polymers have historically been produced with little control over the chemistry of the plasma phase which is still poorly understood. Yet, plasma polymer research is thriving, in par with the commercialisation of innumerable products using this technology, in fields ranging from biomedicalto green energy industries. Here, we briefly summarise the principles at the basis of plasma deposition and highlight recent progress made in understanding the unique chemistry and reactivity of these films. We then demonstrate how carefully designed plasma polymer films can serve the purpose of fundamental research and biomedical applications. We finish the review with a focus on a relatively new class of plasma polymers which are derived from oxazoline-based precursors. This type of coating has attracted significant attention recently due to its unique properties. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Microneedle patches have become an exciting means for transdermal delivery of various therapeutics. Herein, we report on self-sterilizing dissolving nanosilver-loaded microneedle patches created from carboxymethylcellulose capable of suppressing microbial pathogen growth at the insertion site Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The importance of nanostructured surfaces in a range of technological and biological processes is well documented within literature, yet often ill-understood. Simple and reliable methods for the preparation of nanotextured surfaces are required to advance both fundamental understandings of nanoscale phenomena and our capacity to design nano-engineered materials for specific applications. Nano engineered surfaces are, for instance, needed to shed light on the effect of nanostructures' size and density on immune cells cytokine production. In applied bioengineering, nanostructured artificial surfaces could be specifically tailored to enhance the osteo-integration of implants. This study presents a versatile, plasma polymer enabled method for the generation of surfaces with well-defined nanotopography and tailored outermost surface chemistry. This was achieved by finely controlling the covalent bonding of gold nanoparticles of desired size to plasma-deposited poly(methyloxazoline) interlayer deposited on the material substrate. An additional 5 nm thin polymer was deposited over the nanostructures providing a uniformly tailored outermost surface chemistry while preserving the topography. This rapid, versatile, substrate independent, and scalable strategy for the preparation of a well-defined nanotopography surface has promising prospects in many fields relying on surface engineering, including food and membrane technologies, biomaterial and environmental engineering, sensing, marine sciences, and even pollution control. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The success of stem cell therapies relies heavily on our ability to control their fate in vitro during expansion to ensure an appropriate supply. The biophysical properties of the cell culture environment have been recognised as a potent stimuli influencing cellular behaviour. In this work we used advanced plasma-based techniques to generate model culture substrates with controlled nanotopographical features of 16 nm, 38 nm and 68 nm in magnitude, and three differently tailored surface chemical functionalities. The effect of these two surface properties on the adhesion, spreading, and self-renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) were assessed. The results demonstrated that physical and chemical cues influenced the behaviour of these stem cells in in vitro culture in different ways. The size of the nanotopographical features impacted on the cell adhesion, spreading and proliferation, while the chemistry influenced the cell self-renewal and differentiation. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Surface nanotopograpy has been recognized as an important regulator of cellular responses including those of immune cells, the latter being of particular importance for implantable materials since these can determine biomaterial fate. In this paper, evidence is provided that the scale of surface nanotopography modulates the conformation of attached serum proteins,which in turn controls immune cell adhesion and activation. Model surfaces of tailored nanotopography of heights of 16, 38, and 68 nm are created by covalent immobilization of gold nanoparticles to an oxazoline-rich plasma polymer film. This strategy not only produces surfaces of tailored nanofeature density but allows control of the outermost surface chemistry.Circular dichroism spectroscopy and Mac-1 positive THP-1 monocytes studies demonstrate distinct protein unfolding patterns, which upregulate or down regulate the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and cells attachment. The findings presented in this paper shed light on the missing relationship between surface nanotopography, protein unfolding, and the immune response. On the other hand, this work demonstrates the possibility to use specifically tailored surface nanotoporaphy scales to modulate and achieve desired immune responses. Refereed/Peer-reviewed