Ulrica Edlund, associate professor and senior lecturer at Fibre and Polymer Technology, KTH, was rewarded a Ph.D. in Polymer Technology in 2000 followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. Since 2002, she is affiliated with KTH at Fibre and Polymer Technology. Her expertise comprises synthesis, surface modification, and characterization of polymeric biomaterials, the design of controlled drug delivery matrices, and the development of functional formulations and materials from renewable resources.
She has contributed to inventing and developing a new, non-destructive, one-step technique for the covalent surface modification of biomaterials. She has also been very active in the design of renewable functional materials for a sustainable future including renewable films, coatings, microspheres, and hydrogel formulations based on more or less purified non-cellulosic oligo- and polysaccharide rich fractions generated in commercial wood processing operations such as pulping (2 patents, 1 pending application).
She has received several awards, including the Nobel Foundation scholarship, and was in 2002 selected as one of the “outstanding young European scientists forming the future European network” by the European Polymer Federation. Ulrica was in 2010 awarded KTHs Teaching Award for outstanding efforts in undergraduate education.
What was your inspiration in becoming a chemist?
Chemistry never fails to intrigue me. Chemical processes are everywhere, in everything and they are what makes us exist. The more you learn about the chemistry, the more you know about the world. Why macromolecular chemistry in particular? Allow me to quote Professor de Gennes (Nobel laurate in 1991) who expressed that so elegantly:
“…it is not only their applications that make polymers so fascinating. The greatest incentive for polymer science is life itself. All the answers to the mystery of life are connected with polymers in one way or another.”
What was the motivation to write your Polymer Chemistry article? (DOI: 10.1039/C2PY20421E)
Protein fouling is a critical problem for the vast majority of biomaterials in contact with biological milleu, in particular blood plasma. So far only polymer based carboxybetaines have successfully prevented this negative event. The development of new materials with non-fouling surfaces is urgently requested in the biomedical materials industry. However, hybrids of biological and synthetic non-fouling polymers require the use of polymerisation techniques accounting for control at the molecular and supramolecular level while avoiding the use of any toxic catalysts or harsh conditions. How, us four co-authors asked ourselves, do we accomplish this and at the same time acknowledge the growing need for green conditions and renewable resources when developing new chemistry?
We have worked for many years with the development of hemicellulose-rich functional materials derived from by-products of the wood processing industry. In addition to being a cheap and renewable bulk material, we have previously shown that hemicellulose can be converted to multi-site initiators that are able to initiate single electron transfer living radical polymerisation (SET-LRP) and produce vinyl-graft-glucopolymers with a molecular brush-like architecture. In the present work, we developed such a macroinitiator as well as the new betaine monomers and combined them to achieve a state-of-the-art SET-LRP of these carboxybetaine monomers in water at room temperature. The prepared grafted copolymers self-assembled in spheres with the antifouling polymer at the external layer. We were excited to find that the assembled copolymers are remarkably stable in water. There are a range of possible bioapplications where the interaction with proteins must be prevented.
Why did you choose Polymer Chemistry to publish your work?
Polymer Chemistry is a relatively new, yet already well established, forum with high quality papers that cover a large span of chemical aspects related to macromolecular systems. Our paper does not really fit into just one corner of polymer chemistry, but addresses new advancements in “living” radical polymerisation, polysaccharide chemistry, self-assembly, as well as the needs for non-fouling biomaterials and renewable functional materials. We felt Polymer Chemistry would be the perfect place to reach a broader audience in both academia and industry and we are excited to have our work published in this journal.
In which upcoming conferences may our readers meet you?
My co-author Ann-Christine Albertsson and I look very much forward to attending the upcoming 244th ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia, USA, August 19-24. Later this year, October 23-25, we will be in Helsinki, Finland, for the Nordic Wood Biorefinery Conference.
How do you spend your spare times?
I have 3 children, three boys (ages 9, 6 and 3) so I do not have one minute of boredom! I am very lucky to enjoy their everyday company and to share their activities and interests, whether it is soccer practice, reading stories, playing computer games, or LEGO constructions. Whenever I can find some time, I play the piano and I also enjoy baking (which is chemistry, really…). I do plenty of experimenting with cakes and cup cakes at home, with the kind and quite messy help of my sons.
Which profession would you choose if you were not a chemist?
Oh, there are so many aspects of Natural Science and technology that I would really enjoy digging into. Lately, thanks to my older sons, I read and studied a lot about minerals and rocks, and I find geology very interesting. They also made me discover the fascinating world of dinosaurs. Paleontology, perhaps? In some way, somehow, I think I would still be a scientist.
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