Engineered biomaterials based on coconut oil and natural polymers: new ways to develop added-value biomedical products

Abstract

The project Nature4Health proposes to develop innovative biomaterials conjugating natural resources, namely agro-food product (VCO) and marine-origin polymers (CHT), by designing 2D (films) and 3D-based structures (oleogels, sponges) as high added-value wound care materials. Thanks to the intrinsic nature of active components, the produced matrices can be used to accelerate the healing of acute superficial (wound dressings) and chronic wounds (oleogels), without the need for additional antibiotics and anti-inflammatory agents. The repercussions of these products can be tremendous, not only from the economic point of view but also from the environmental ones, since they are obtained in a sustainable way and will be processed using green chemistry methodologies. In UMINHO, the 3Bs Research Group is a worldwide group recognized by the development of novel biomaterials (hydrogels, scaffolds, membranes, nano/microparticles) based on natural polymers for applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering of bone, cartilage and skin. This is accomplished by developing several isolation/purification tools and processing methods, allowing the fabrication of integrated biomaterials. Particularly, the IR of this project is a well-known researcher on chitin/chitosan as biomaterials. Her findings had contributed to enhancing the knowledge on marine-based systems for soft tissue regeneration. Therefore, the large experience of the Portuguese team on polymer processing and characterization will cover different aspects of the proposal. The expertise of Brazilian team, UNICAMP, is based on thermodynamics and various aspects of colloid and interface science, including polymer/surfactant solutions, association with nanoparticles such as metallic ones or nanocrystalline cellulose, many aspects of phase equilibria, including petroleum samples and elucidation of structures in these complex fluids. For this purpose, the Brazilian group has developed expertise in techniques such as different calorimetric techniques for studies on the energetics of these interactions and structural ones such as dynamic and static light scattering, SAXS or rheological measurements. Then, the partnership of the Brazilian team will be crucial for the achievement of the Nature4Health project. (AU)