The invention relates to a drug delivery device adapted for carrying and delivering both hydrophilic and lipophilic drug molecules. The drug delivery device includes a porous body for adsorption of drug molecules, the body including a plurality of microspheres, and a hydrogel forming cross-links connecting the plurality of microspheres.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to polyolefin grafted polydiene polymers, wherein the polyolefin grafted polydiene polymers comprises a polydiene having a polydiene polymer backbone, a polyolefin, and at least one sulfur containing functionalizing agent which grafts the polyolefin onto at least one non-terminal position on the polydiene polymer backbone.

Provided herein are compositions comprising: a scaffold polymer having one or more acryloyl groups or one or more methacryloyl groups; optionally a porogen and a crosslinking agent, compositions that upon crosslinking form a hydrogel for use in cell encapsulation and methods for immunocytochemistry of encapsulated cells. Scaffold polymers used are selected from: Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA); Poly(ethylene glycol) dimethylacrylate (PEGDMA); Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate (PEGMEA); Poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA); and Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMEMA), and porogens selected from: Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG); Chitosan; Agarose; Dextran; Hyaluronic acid; Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA); Cellulose and derivatives thereof; Gelatin and derivatives thereof; and Acrylamide and derivatives thereof. The invention also provides, at least in part, compositions for forming a porous hydrogel around a cell suitable for immunostaining of cells within the hydrogel.

There is provided a vinyl alcohol-based polymer having an olefin in side chain, comprising 0.001 to 10 mol % of a structural unit represented by Formula (1) based on the total amount of structural units, wherein the total carbon number of X, R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is 2 or more. The vinyl alcohol-based polymer having an olefin in side chain has excellent storage stability, good solubility in water or an organic solvent even after thermal treatment, and excellent reactivity to high energy beam. In Formula (1), X represents an optionally substituted divalent aliphatic hydrocarbon group, an optionally substituted divalent alicyclic hydrocarbon group, an optionally substituted divalent aromatic hydrocarbon group, or a group consisting of two or more of these groups which are linked via at least one bond selected from the group consisting of an amide bond, an ester bond, an ether bond, and a sulfide bond; R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4, independently of each other, represents a hydrogen atom, an optionally substituted aliphatic hydrocarbon group, an optionally substituted alicyclic hydrocarbon group, or an optionally substituted aromatic hydrocarbon group; and X, R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 can be arbitrarily combined to form a ring structure). ##STR00001##

By using a graft polymer comprising a dendritic polymer with a styrene skeleton and a hydrophilic polymer grafted to a terminal thereof, a temperature-responsive substrate for cell culture having a temperature-responsive surface for cell culture that allows cells to be cultured with high efficiency and which yet allows cultured cells to be exfoliated in a short period of time and with high efficiency by simply changing the temperature of the substrate surface can be prepared conveniently. If this temperature-responsive substrate for cell culture is used, cells obtained from a variety of tissues can be cultured with high efficiency. If this culture method is utilized, cultured cells can be exfoliated intact in a short amount of time with high efficiency. In addition, by using this graft polymer, a wide range of peptides and proteins can also be separated by simply changing the temperature of a chromatographic carrier. This allows for convenient separation procedure and improves the efficiency of separating operations. What is more, the stereoregularity of the dendritic polymer per se may be utilized to enable separation of solutes based on differences in their molecular structures.

By using a graft polymer comprising a dendritic polymer with a styrene skeleton and a hydrophilic polymer grafted to a terminal thereof, a temperature-responsive substrate for cell culture having a temperature-responsive surface for cell culture that allows cells to be cultured with high efficiency and which yet allows cultured cells to be exfoliated in a short period of time and with high efficiency by simply changing the temperature of the substrate surface can be prepared conveniently. If this temperature-responsive substrate for cell culture is used, cells obtained from a variety of tissues can be cultured with high efficiency. If this culture method is utilized, cultured cells can be exfoliated intact in a short amount of time with high efficiency. In addition, by using this graft polymer, a wide range of peptides and proteins can also be separated by simply changing the temperature of a chromatographic carrier. This allows for convenient separation procedure and improves the efficiency of separating operations. What is more, the stereoregularity of the dendritic polymer per se may be utilized to enable separation of solutes based on differences in their molecular structures.

A process is provided for grafting CRP synthesized polymers to dienes and polyolefins in the presence of a CRP controlling agent. Chain scission is minimal. Graft yield can be high and is proportional to the amount of CRP controlling agent added. The grafting process can be carried out either in a molten phase, preferably by reactive extrusion, or in a solvent-based process. The process provides novel families of grafted polyolefins and dienes, which show promising applications as new materials and as additives in the polymer industry.

A process is provided for grafting CRP synthesized polymers to dienes and polyolefins in the presence of a CRP controlling agent. Chain scission is minimal. Graft yield can be high and is proportional to the amount of CRP controlling agent added. The grafting process can be carried out either in a molten phase, preferably by reactive extrusion, or in a solvent-based process. The process provides novel families of grafted polyolefins and dienes, which show promising applications as new materials and as additives in the polymer industry.

The present invention relates to a high performance cross-linked triblock cationic functionalized polymer for electrochemical applications, and methods of making and using the same. The invention also relates to a tunable hydrogenated polymer, that can be functionalized with a particular cation for a particular application, and the method of making the hydrogenated polymer and tuning the hydrogenated polymer for the application.

The present invention relates to a high performance cross-linked triblock cationic functionalized polymer for electrochemical applications, and methods of making and using the same. The invention also relates to a tunable hydrogenated polymer, that can be functionalized with a particular cation for a particular application, and the method of making the hydrogenated polymer and tuning the hydrogenated polymer for the application.