Abstract: An alginate-polyacrylamide IPN hydrogel formulation for 3D printing using a dual syringe system where the components that initiate polymerization of each network remain separated until printing. The dual syringe system may use a single motor and mixing head to combine both parts of the hydrogel formulation for controlled polymerization of the material. The elastic and time-dependent viscoelastic properties (stress relaxation) are tuned to match mammalian tissues by changing the crosslink density and monomer concentration. The fracture energy of the material may be increased by soaking in a calcium chloride solution. The resulting IPN polymer material may find application in soft tissue medical simulation devices, particularly because the mechanical properties may be tuned to mimic the elastic and viscoelastic properties of muscle tissue and may be 3D printed in the shape of anatomical parts.

Abstract: The invention provides methods for preparing a stable, multiple-use three enzyme biosensor for the amperometric determination of creatinine in biological liquids that has a useful lifetime that extends significantly beyond that of presently available amperometric biosensors. The biosensor prepared by the methods of the invention encompasses a plurality of immobilized enzymes that are applied to the biosensor as an enzyme-polymer composition. The enzymes, which can include creatinine amidohydrolase, creatine amidinohydrolase and sarcosine oxidase, are immobilized into the enzyme-polymer composition simultaneously as well as applied to the biosensor simultaneously. Prior to being immobilized, the enzymes can be chemically modified by attaching one or more polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains per enzyme monomer. The polymer component can be provided by a polyurethane membrane.