Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Sevakumaran Vigneswari
Institute of Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
Title of the talk: Polyhydroxyalkanoates: A Sustainable Biomaterial
Abstract
Polyhydroxyalkonoates (PHAs) are bacterial plastic produced intracellularly by bacteria under limiting conditions of important nutrients. Based on the high levels of biocompatibility and inert in-vivo degradation products, this bioplastic is a desirable candidate to be tailored as scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Therefore, various types of bacterial plastic are being extensively innovated for biomedical applications. The wide range of biomedical applications includes drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, scaffolds, and artificial organ constructs. PHAs in various forms are being extensively researched for biomedical applications so as to bring about the future vision for PHAs as biomaterials for the advancement of research and technology. Here, we will focus on the fabrication of nanoparticles using the bioplastic for the encapsulation of anti-cancer drugs for sustained release.
Biography
Vigneswari Sevakumaran is a senior lecturer from Institute of Climate Adaptation and Marine Biotechnology, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Her main research interest is bacterial polymer-polyhydroxyalkanoates. She works on fabrication of biodegradable polymers mainly using electrospinning techniques to promote increased cell biomaterial interaction for biomedical applications. She also obtained several awards and achievements such as Southeast Asian Women in Science 2021, Academic Fellow of USM, National University of Singapore (NUS) Fellowship Southeast Asia 2020, and Young Scientist Medal 2017 by IAAM Sweden.
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