Obtainment and characterization of polymeric nanofibers based on silk fibroin using solution blow spinning technique

• Grant number: 17/22172-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2018
• End date: December 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Henrique Capparelli Mattoso
• Grantee: Amanda Rinaldi Sorigotti
• Host Institution: Embrapa Instrumentação Agropecuária. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Recently, the production and application of nanofibers (bio)polymeric has beenprogressing in several sectors, especially in the biomedical area. The reduction of thediameter of fibers to the nanoscale, high aspect ratio and specific surface area and, insome cases, high porosity, allow their interaction with the biological environment inwhich they are inserted, in order to direct the interaction between the cells and theenvironment that surrounds them. The solution blow spinning (SBS) technique combinesconceptual elements of electrospinning, melt blowing and solution spinning, allowing theproduction of fibers in the micro- and nanometric scales, without require the use hightemperatures or electrical voltages. The fibers produced by SBS have a high potential ofapplication in the biomedical area, since they are widely compatible with living tissues,but it is necessary that the processed materials also meet this requirement. In this context,natural polymers like polysaccharides and polypeptides consist as candidates due to theexcellent biocompatibility and processability. Among them, fibroin nanofibers, proteinextracted from silk, have enormous potential like biomaterial due to biodegradability, lowinflammatory reaction and high resistance to microbial development. The objective ofthis project is to produce and characterize polymeric nanofibers based on silk fibrointhrough the SBS technique, aiming at biomedical applications, such as scaffolds in tissueengineering, that is proposed as unfolding of the production and characterization of thenanofibres produced.