ESR 2 – Design and Engineering of Therapeutic Polyurethanes
Subha Purkayastha – Politecnico di Torino and Vornia Limited
The Project: The main objective is the synthesis of novel therapeutic polyurethanes. Biomimetic polyurethane will be synthesised mimicking antimicrobial peptides based on Ionic liquids monomers. Characterisation techniques will determine their chemical structure and study their morphology. Further the charge density, size, morphology, sequence, biodegradability, amphiphilicity of the polymeric system will be optimised.
The Researcher: Subha Purkayastha is an Indian researcher who studied an M.Sc in Polymer Science as a joint master’s programme of the three universities in Berlin, Free University Berlin (FU), Humboldt University Berlin (HU), Technical University Berlin (TU) and the nearby University of Potsdam (UP).
He was a research student at Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Golm from April 2012 to July 2013 in Department of Colloid Chemistry headed by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Markus Antonietti and group of Polymer Dispersions headed by Dr. habil. Klaus Tauer.
He wrote a research proposal which was accepted by the department director and the group leader therefore he was working on his own research project involving synthesis and characterisation of polysaccharide stabilised thermoresponsive core¬-shell porous colloidal particles via aqueous heterophase polymerisation. He was extensively trained in characterisation techniques like FTIR , 1H NMR , 13C NMR, TEM, SEM, AFM, DLS, Thermoporometry, Nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement.
Afterwards, he worked as a Research Associate at Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) under supervision of Dr. Katrin Hoffmann in Biophotonics group, Department 1:10 headed by Dr. rer. nat. Ute Resch-Genger. His main task was encapsulation of dyes in polymer beads, spectroscopic studies i.e. Absorption measurements, steady State Fluorescence measurements, time resolved fluorescence measurements free dyes in solution and dye loaded polymer particles. His research interests are synthesis and characterisation of polymer particles for biomedical applications, biomaterials, biomimetics, heterophase polymerisation, controlled radical polymerisation, spectroscopic techniques.