Engineering Biomaterials for Neural Applications Targeting Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries

This book describes past and present advances in engineering materials for neural applications, with special emphasis on their usefulness for traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.

The book presents major physio-pathological features of traumatic injuries at the brain and spinal cord as examples of diseases hampering the central nervous tissue. By incorporating knowledge from the perspective of experts with diverse backgrounds, this book gives insight into the understanding of these multifaceted pathologies and the materials science approaches that aim to cure them.

The interdisciplinary nature of this book makes it a perfect candidate for the interest of a broad audience, from clinicians working on neural diseases to scientists whose work focuses on the nervous tissue (neuroscientists) and/or materials science. Undergraduate and PhD students can also benefit from the knowledge and discussion included in this book.

Elisa López-Dolado is a staff physician at the National Hospital for Paraplegics, Spain, a monographic health center and national reference of multidisciplinary care of spinal cord injury patients. Her professional career has pivoted around the care of these patients. Between 1999 and 2009, she led the Electrostimulation Unit and since 2003, she is in charge of the Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit, coordinating a multidisciplinary team of 36 professionals. Her main goals are promoting the improvement of clinical care levels of this pediatric unit, optimizing its organizational and management resources, and boosting academic and research activities related to spinal cord damage to children and adolescents.

María Concepción Serrano is a tenured scientist at the Institute of Materials Science in Madrid, CSIC, Spain, as an active member of the Group of Materials for Medicine and Biotechnology. She obtained her PhD in Biology in 2006 by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Her current research focuses on the design and development of novel biomaterials for biomedical applications, with a major interest in neural applications. She has co-authored over 60 publications in scientific journals, 4 book chapters and more than 70 communications to national and international conferences, besides being actively involved in outreach activities. She has received over 2.500 citations and reached an h index of 30.