Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Farah Laboratory for Advanced Functional/Medicinal Polymers & Smart Drug Delivery Technologies
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." -Harriet Tubman
Our Passion & MISSION
Our lab passion is inventing new smart technologies and functionalized materials for diseases treatment and human benefits. Our vision focuses on two main research approaches; designing and engineering novel bioactive polymeric functionalized biomaterials and nanoparticles with desired and programmable properties, and developing smart drug delivery technologies.
In the biomaterials research area, we design and fabricate functionalized biodegradable and non-degradable polymers for various medical and non-medical applications, owing to their ability to tailor properties by bearing new functional groups. Understanding the correlation between the derivatives structure and functionality, enables us to design valuable medical and therapeutic materials. In addition, within the drug delivery field, we concentrate in formulating and investigating the controlled release ability of drugs from various novel engineered materials such as crystalline drug formulations, which can provide long-term treatments or enhance the functionality of implants and cells based devices, by localized modulation of Immune response to them.
Research Projects
Our Current Focus
Our long-term research goals have grown and developed since our respected Research Lab began work in Oct 2019. However, no matter the challenge, everyone remains enthusiastic and dedicated to the tasks at hand. Find out more below (part of the projects!).
Engineering Functionalized and Self-Healable Biodegradable Polymeric Hydrogels as Platform for drug delivery and Tissue Engineering
Naturally occurring monomeric materials are utilized for the preparation of self-healable biodegradable polymeric hydrogels, which can be used in wound care, tissue engineering, and drug delivery applications
Engineering and 3D Printing of Novel biopolymers for flexible and minimally invasive devices and implants fabrications
Three-dimensional printing for new biodegradable polymers after functional group modifications. When the polymers were exposed to ultraviolet light UV, they undergo a polymerization process and turn from a liquid to a flexible solid.
Multifunctional Protective Polymers for Cells-based therapies for producing immune response-free "drug factories" for chronic diseases
The Multifunctional polymers are engineered with unique chemistries that provide protective shields to encapsulated cell cargo preventing locally immune response.
Carrier-Free targeting Crystalline Formulations for selective and localized impact for enhancing medical implants and inflammatory diseases treatment
The carrier-free crystals formulation will serve as a controlled drug delivery system with 100% pure dose for localized release of drugs targeting implant-rejection key players.
Engineering Long-Lasting Functionallized Antimicrobial Polymers
A novel, effective, superior, and stable antimicrobial polymers embedded in the surfaces for various medical (e.g dental) and non-medical (e.g. water treatment). The regulated release reduces the need for continuous disinfection, increasing the antiviral efficiency and limit the spread of the virus
Biodegradable polymers from renewable sources for drug delivery, tissue engineering and medical implants applications
Synthesis of a renewable, novel, and degradable polyesters for drug delivery and medical implant applications.
Anticancer-medicinal Heterocyclic Based Multifunctional Polymers and their Medical Applications
heterocyclic compounds identified with broad spectrum activities including anticancer and antimicrobial activities among many others. In this project we develop novel heterocyclic based medicinal polymers.
Carrier-free
Multicomponent Crystalline Formulations of Anti-inflammatory and Antifibrotic Drugs
The Multicomponent formulation will serve as a simultaneous carrier-free delivery system for the localized release of drugs targeting implant-rejection key players for complexed implants and Xeno grafts.
Medicinal
supermacromolecule
Synthesis of medicinal and multifunctional supermacromolecule fully degradable for unmet medical applications.
Self-cleaning Nanomachines
Antimicrobial polymeric nanoparticles with chemical inter-chains change thus provide strong antimicrobial activity with the capability of chemical moieties rearangment based on the microbial microenvironment and strain-specific releasing dead bacteria, thus increasing the activity per time scale.
Targeted anticancer payloads
In this project, we develop targeted technologies with higher drug payloads for targeting cancer microenvironments with higher bioavailability capabilities and superior anticancer activity.
Retrievable 3D printed medical implants for Cells based therapies
In this project, we aim to design and 3D print fully retrievable devices for cell-based therapies that would allow stem-cells based derived to function as in situ and on-demand "drug factories".
Smart Responsive Dental implants
Formulation of responsive delivery carriers that are dental composites compatible for localized delivery applications.
Cheap and Superior Long-Lasting Anti SARS-CoV-2 Bleaching Polymers
Novel, effective, superior and stable disinfecting polymers for preventing the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The regulated release reduces the need for continuous disinfection, increasing the antiviral efficiency and limiting the spread of the virus. Project funded by EIT-Health. For more info see below our COVID-19 efforts.
