• Question: In this industry you work do you believe polymers are the way forward in the society are they the best thing to use in the advancement of human technology?

    Asked by Quincy O to Thomas, Anne on 16 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Anne Canning

      Anne Canning answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      Hi Quincy, I work in the field of regenerative medicine and I think polymers are the way forward. They’ve already shown lots of uses as they have properties which can be easily changed and controlled depending on what you need them for. There are lots of different ways to make polymers, some are really simple and cheap, which is always an advantage! There are some which have been through clinical trials and are allowed to be put in the body, to replace missing tissues/ to grow cells on.

    • Photo: Thomas Farrugia

      Thomas Farrugia answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      Ahoy Quincy – I reckon the fiel dof polymers would allow for quite a few things to happen, purely because they can display such a wide range of properties. You can use polymers to form electricity conducting nanowires, which in turn could be used to hook up different molecules and allow for signalling. If you go up a level you’ll find them being used as hip replacements or for making replacement organs. And they’re all around us too – mobile cases, car parts, our clothes and computers.

      So polymers are probably here to stay and develop as we go along – the main issue though is how we’ll keep making them. After all the main source of monomers is crude oil, which we distil into different chemicals which are used to make the polymers. So once we run out we’ll ahve to be quite creative, unless we find ways of making those feedstock using other means – some scientists have already engineered yeast to start producing chemicals from sugar, whereas others think photosynthesis is key.

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