Aerogels based on bacterial cellulose with hydroxyapatite and calcium oxide for tissue repair

• Grant number: 24/04008-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 26, 2024
• End date: February 16, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Industrial Operations and Equipment for Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Liliane Maria Ferrareso Lona
• Grantee: Guilherme Domingos Garcia
• Supervisor: Daniel Arcos Navarrete
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Química (FEQ). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/06071-9 - Bacterial cellulose-based aerogels with hydroxyapatite and calcium oxide for tissue repair, BP.MS

Abstract

Tissue engineering for bone regeneration is crucial to improve people's health and quality of life. However, creating biomaterials for this purpose is still a significant challenge due to the complexity of their manufacture, high costs, and difficulties in large-scale production. Fortunately, biofabrication using bacterial cellulose (BC) and its modification through the impregnation of suspended particles emerge as a promising and advantageous technique for scaffold production due to its simplicity, low cost, and scalability, Nonetheless, it is imperative to channel efforts towards enhancing fundamental properties such as mechanical strength and cellular adhesion. This project aims to develop a new biomaterial for bone regeneration through the in vitro preparation and evaluation of BC aerogels for potential use as scaffolds. The process begins with preparing BC hydrogels, followed by the phosphorylation of their surface and the impregnation of hydroxyapatite (HAP) and calcium oxide (CaO) particles. Finally, the resulting hydrogels will be freeze-dried to form aerogels, and subjected to a series of biological analyses, conducting in vitro cytocompatibility, adhesion, cell proliferation, and biomineralization analyses, as well as analyses to determine the biomaterial's antimicrobial properties, investigating the effect of incorporating HAp and CaO into BC.