@inproceedings{d.2014,

title = {Testing and modelling of hydrogels behavior for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications},

author = { Diego Caccavo and Sara Cascone and Gaetano Lamberti and Anna Angela Barba},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-08-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of CHISA 2014},

pages = {1--1},

publisher = {CHISA 2014},

address = {Prague, Czech Republic},

keywords = {Hydrogel Characterization, Hydrogel Modeling},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{s.2014-4,

title = {In-vitro models of the gastro-intestinal tract for pharmaceutical and nutritional purposes},

author = { Sara Cascone and Diego Caccavo and Gaetano Lamberti and Giuseppe Titomanlio and Anna Angela Barba},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-08-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of CHISA 2014/PRES 2014},

pages = {2--2},

publisher = {CHISA 2014},

address = {Prague, Czech Republic},

keywords = {In vitro, Pharmacokinetics},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{s.2014,

title = {MODELING THE BEHAVIOR OF SWELLABLE HYDROGELS-BASED MATRICES FOR PHARMACEUTICAL APPLICATIONS},

author = { Sara Cascone and Diego Caccavo and Gaetano Lamberti and Giuseppe Titomanlio and Matteo D'Amore and Anna Angela Barba},

year  = {2014},

date = {2014-04-01},

booktitle = {13th European Symposium on Controlled Drug Delivery},

pages = {3--4},

publisher = {ESCDD 2014},

address = {Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands},

keywords = {Hydrogel Modeling},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Schuster2013,

title = {Spontaneous formation of parallel aligned macropores within polysaccharide gels},

author = {Erich Schuster and Diego Caccavo and Johanna Eckardt and Annika Altsk\"{a}r and Anne-Marie Hermansson and Anette Larsson and Anna Str\"{o}m},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-10-02},

booktitle = {Materials for Tomorrow},

abstract = {The ability to control and direct mass transport of fluids and molecular components through soft biomaterials is of importance in a wide range of applications. Alginate is a biocompatible, renewable polymer source extracted from seaweed. The readily available anionic polysaccharide find commercial use in diverse areas such as wound care, pharmaceutics and food. Alginate forms a gel by rapid crosslinking with di- and tri-valent ions [1]. In this work we have used two different ways to introduce the multivalent ions that act as ion bridges between alginate. The methods are the "internal setting" [1] of the gels giving macroscopically homogeneous gels and “directed external” gelation [2] of the alginate giving rise to anisotropic growth of open capillaries running through the gel, see Figure 1. 

Our aim was to relate microstructural differences in the gels prepared by different methodologies to mass transport properties, and to determine the effect of various ions on the formation of channels.

Although the same amount of calcium ions was present the porous calcium alginate gel had a local diffusion significantly higher compared to the corresponding gel without capillaries. The diameter and amount of capillaries could be tailored by using different types of ions from tenth to several hundreds of micrometers. By varying the preparation method and the type of ion for gelation we are able to form a biomaterial with different mass transport properties according to our needs. },

keywords = {Alginate},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{Schuster2013b,

title = {Microstructural, mechanical and mass transport properties of alginate capillary gels},

author = {Erich Schuster and Diego Caccavo and Johanna Eckardt and Annika Altsk\"{a}r and Anne-Marie Hermansson and Anette Larsson and Anna Str\"{o}m},

year  = {2013},

date = {2013-08-20},

booktitle = {International Symposium on the Properties of Water},

address = {Fiskeb\"{a}ckskil, Sweden},

keywords = {Alginate},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}