Hybrid bacterial cellulose/GO-chitosan nanofibers produced through forcespinning®

• Grant number: 21/06899-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Effective date (Start): October 27, 2021
• Effective date (End): February 26, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Luciana de Simone Cividanes Coppio
• Grantee: Thais Cardoso de Oliveira
• Supervisor: Karen Lozano
• Host Institution: Divisão de Ciências Fundamentais (IEF). Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA). Ministério da Defesa (Brasil). São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/23844-6 - Study of the functionalization effect of carbonaceous materials for the production of HDPE nanocomposites for aerospace applications, BP.MS

Abstract

Nanotechnology is applied in many science fields (e.g., chemical, engineering, biology) owing to nanomaterials' unique properties. With nanoscience's advances, therapeutical biomaterials with superior performance can be developed. Skin is a protective layer against microorganism invasion and, when damaged, could be a way for its infiltration. As skin injuries are commonly treated in the healthcare system, fast and efficient wound healing is needed to avoid the system's overload. Innovative and antimicrobial wound dressings are a solution to reduce healing time and bacterial infections, resulting in a quick and proper treatment that can be achieved with nanofibers (NFs), which present properties desired for wound healing. Therefore, a wide variety of NFs can be spun to produce a suitable membrane for fast recovery. In bioengineering, bacterial cellulose (BC)-based materials are widely employed due to their biocompatibility. However, BC does not exhibit antimicrobial properties, which could be added with CS and graphene oxide modified with CS (GO, an anti-biofouling agent) to improve the nanocomposite's mechanical and antimicrobial properties, also providing a large surface area for cellular interaction. Moreover, fibers for wound healing are produced through many methods, with electrospinning being the most popular one; nevertheless, this process has limitations regarding the use of conductive and non-conductive solutions due to the electrical field application. Hence, a new technique is introduced, replacing the electrical field for centrifugal forces, resulting in versatile compositions and an increased quantity of high-quality spun NFs. Thus, with the increased demand for highly antimicrobial, efficient, and faster skin healing, this project proposes producing a biocompatible and antimicrobial hybrid BC/GO-CS NF by forcespinning® for wound dressing application. (AU)