Development of F18 nananofibers based biocomposites for the treatment of complex wounds

Abstract

The year 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the invention of 45S5 bioactive glass by Larry Hench, which was the first known synthetic material to exhibit an unusual property: the ability to form a strong chemical bond with bone. Currently, bioactive glasses, or just "bioglasses", are considered third-generation biomaterials. Third-generation biomaterials are capable not only of forming a direct link with living tissues, but also of releasing ions that stimulate specific cellular responses at the molecular level, through the activation of certain types of genes. Through mechanisms that are not yet fully understood, bioactive glasses promote in situ regeneration of both hard tissues (bone, dentin, etc.) and soft tissues (skin, cartilage and nerves). For this reason, these materials are gaining more and more relevance in Tissue Engineering. Driven by several factors, the demand for artificial bone grafts and also for materials capable of regenerating skin lesions increases every year in Brazil and worldwide. In this research project, we intend to act in these two research main paths. This research project aims to develop nanofibers wound pads from the bioactive glass F18, for the treatment of chronic skin lesions. F18 is a bioactive glass developed in Brazil and licensed to VETRA, and has several positive characteristics that make it very promising for various applications in regenerative medicine. The proposal as a whole is innovative from a scientific and technological point of view, given that we do not intend only to seek engineering solutions, but also to unveil part of the complex in vivo mechanisms involved in the tissue regeneration process induced by this material. We emphasize that this proposal integrates VETRA's strategic planning (together with its external investor), which proposes a macro project that has three work fronts, encompassing the development of advanced biomaterial (wound pad), the execution of clinical trials and the development of digital tools with artificial intelligence for the treatment of wounds and remote monitoring of patients. (AU)