Hiroyuki Kamata, Department of Bioengineering, won a CSJ Presentation Award 2014 for Industries in 94th Annual Meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan

Hiroyuki Kamata in the Department of Bioengineering, won a CSJ Presentation Award 2014 for Industriesin 94th Annual Meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan.
This award is given to a regular or student member of The Chemical Society of Japan who is less than 40 years of age as of April 1, 2014, in recognition of a research achievement that is based on either basic or applied concepts / ideas / methods / results that are expected to contribute to the industries, and is presented by an individual who has made a great contribution to the research activity. The award is endorsed by the president of The Chemical Society of Japan.

<About awarded research>

We have successfully developed fundamental technologies for providing shape stability to hydrogels, which are promising candidates as scaffolding materials for cells in regenerative medicine. Conventional hydrogels consist of water-soluble polymers (hydrophilic polymers), and swell in a water environment including our body environment, which causes a critical decrease in mechanical properties; hydrogels become brittle. In this research, we introduced a thermoresponsive polymer that is water-soluble at a low temperature (10ºC), and shrinks at a physiological temperature (37ºC) into hydrogels. At 37ºC, two independently occurring effects (swelling and shrinking) oppose each other, which led to the suppression of apparent changes in shape. The material reported herein is the first hydrogel that can retain its original shape and mechanical properties in the body, and will be useful for the development of artificial cartilages, and temporary scaffolding materials for versatile cells in regenerative medicine.

<Comments>

It is a great honour to receive this renowned award. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisors, Prof. Takamasa Sakai and Prof. Ung-il Chung at School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. I would like to study more and continue with the research.