Vesting in biostartups: analysis of new legal framework & fundamental rights

The purpose of this article is to examine the vesting contract in biostartups, with emphasis on the new legal framework from the perspective of the principle of maximum effectiveness of fundamental rights. The vesting contract is analyzed in relation to the effectiveness of these rights, divided into two dimensions. In the subjective dimension, the vesting contract is seen as a way to protect the fundamental rights of startup partners and investors, including the right to contractual freedom. In the objective dimension, the vesting contract is seen as a way to promote the effectiveness of fundamental rights to growth and to innovative entrepreneurship, mitigating labor and tax risks, optimizing the company’s development, and bringing a strong economic and social impact on the development of a nation. The results showed that the vesting contract can generate risk reduction and legal certainty for the partners in a private environment of prior trust. Furthermore, the inclusion of the term “innovation” in Brazilian Federal Constitution reinforces the importance of scientific and technological research for the development of the country. However, the implementation of these fundamental rights is still incipient, especially in the field of biotechnology, where companies are subject to extremely high risks and a very high mortality rate due to innovative projects and the lack of administrative knowledge on the part of managers. Finally, as to the methodology employed, the study has an exploratory and descriptive character, with the conclusions derived from the qualitative analysis of information delimited with a bibliographical and documental review of books, articles, websites, jurisprudence and legislation

Baccharis dracunculifolia extract as a promising active for healing chronic wounds

Chronic wounds are all wounds that have a difficult healing process and a delay in physiological healing repair. Such wounds are considered a public health problem, which generate high costs for health services. The Baccharis dracunculifolia (BD) plant, popularly known as “alecrim do campo” or “vassourinha” and widely used in folk medicine, has several biological activities, such as antibacterial and immunomodulatory activities, which may favor the wound repair process. In this context, the objective of this study is to analyze the biological activity of Baccharis dracunculifolia extracts regarding cytotoxicity for subsequent production of a dressing with future applications in tissue repair of chronic wounds. FTIR and TG analyzes were performed to identify functional groups and biological cytotoxicity assays revealed that the ethanolic extract of Baccharis dracunculifolia (EEBD) showed lower cytotoxicity for most of the tested concentrations

O Entrepreneurship in biotechnology in Brazil: the path to innovation development

Studies and debates on entrepreneurship, innovation, and biotechnology have been highlighted on the world stage. Considering this context, it is necessary to evaluate innovation and its consequences for the entrepreneur because innovation is a fundamental requirement for the success of the entrepreneur, especially when it involves the biotechnology area. Innovation has the power to create a new product, a market success, and generate economic benefits for the company. In this context, this work aims to understand through literature research how the insertion of innovation in entrepreneurship can contribute to the biotechnology area. To gain the necessary understanding of the theme, the methodology used was bibliographic research with the purpose of collecting and synthesizing existing knowledge. The results found showed that there are gaps between entrepreneurship and the process of searching for innovation, the selection of ideas, and the challenges facing the changes needed for the entrepreneur's initiatives to be successful. In the biotechnology area, entrepreneurship can assist in innovation processes as well as strengthen the capacity for competitiveness. Therefore, this research puts into debate the relevant aspects of entrepreneurship, the innovation process in the biotechnology area, and its impact on the economy and society

Intelligent embedded system for physiological control of ventricular assist devices in health 4.0 Background

The use of Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) has proven to be an effective treatment option for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients who are not eligible for heart transplantation. These devices can serve as a bridge to heart transplantation (BTT) or as destination therapy (DT). While LVADs operate at a constant flow, this can affect the patient's quality of life and survival rate. To address this issue, Health 4.0 (H4) has developed new technological resources to personalize control systems and integrate medical devices into treatment. In this effort, a Physiological Control of LVAD (PC-LVAD) system was implemented within the H4 platform, using an Intelligent Embedded System (IES). The IES was developed using the MyRIO® development platform and tools such as LabVIEW® FPGA and RT, Quartus II® EDA, and MATLAB®. To evaluate its performance, preliminary criteria were assessed in experimental tests, analyzing the Internet of Things (IoT) characterization and applying best practices for information security. The results of the experimental tests showed that the IES could store and transmitting data in real-time to a graphical interface, and the data were found to be consistent with external measuring instruments

Influence of carbon sources on the physicochemical properties and yield of bacterial cellulose production

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a biopolymer of great interest for application in various industrial and medical areas, due to its peculiar characteristics of biocompatibility, tensile strength, high water retention capacity and crystallinity. CB can be produced using culture media with different nutrient sources, under static or agitated cultivation conditions. The objectives of this work were to produce CB membranes, using the bacterial strain Komagateibacter hansenii ATCC 23769, in static cultivation, using media containing different sources of carbon (glucose, fructose, glycerol and ethanol) and nitrogen (yeast extract and peptone), aiming to study the influence on the physicochemical properties of the BC produced and its possible biomedical application. The obtained BC were comparatively evaluated for dry mass yield, swelling capacity, and characterized by Field emission gun-scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM), and Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR). Membranes with significant swelling capacity were obtained, demonstrating that the composition of the culture medium influences the physicochemical properties of BC. The results of this work also demonstrate that the BC has great possibilities in several areas, including biomedical applications

Use of high energy milling and porosity insertion in the development of the Mg-Zn system aiming biomedical applications

The development of metal alloys with porosity controlled by powder metallurgy has shown to be suitable for obtaining biomaterials with the control of mechanical strength and modulus of elasticity, in addition to the possibility of controlling open porosity, which is essential for osseointegration. Magnesium alloys have shown encouraging results when used as tissue engineering scaffolds. Although a considerable number of studies encourage the use of magnesium alloys in bioactive implants for load-bearing in orthopedic applications, a great deal of research effort is still essential to assess in vivo, the long-term capability of such supports. Due to the excellent physical and mechanical properties of magnesium compared to other permanent (non-degradable) elements, porous magnesium alloys have become good candidates to develop biodegradable supports for bone treatments. Porous magnesium alloys could be used in applications where it would be interesting to use a biodegradable metallic material, while maintaining the requirements of mechanical strength, elastic modulus, corrosion resistance and adequate osseointegration. In this work, a new route of processing porous alloys of the MgZn system using high energy milling, via powder metallurgy, will be evaluated

Effect of synthesis temperature on crystallinity, morphology and cell viability of nanostructured hydroxyapatite via wet chemical precipitation method: Effect of temperature on hydroxyapatite properties

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the main natural mineral constituent of bones and is a good alternative for biomedical applications because it is osteoconductive, non-allergenic, and non-carcinogenic, which ensures high biocompatibility. A commonly used method for obtaining hydroxyapatite is the wet route, which is simple and low-cost, produces only water as a final residue, and provides HA with a crystallinity comparable to that of bone tissue, which favors its biocompatibility. Therefore, the objective of this work is to synthesize hydroxyapatite via the wet chemical precipitation method at different temperatures (4°C, 30°C, 50°C, or 70°C) to observe the influence of temperature on crystallinity, morphology, and cytotoxicity. The results of X-ray diffraction show that all syntheses resulted in pure hydroxyapatite, while increasing the temperature led to higher crystallinity (10.6% to 56.2%) and the crystal size was slightly affected. The increase in temperature changed the particle shape from irregular to needle-like. Cell viability was tested by PicoGreen® in VERO cells for samples at concentrations of 30 and 300µg/mL, and the samples synthesized at 4°C, with lower crystallinity, caused less DNA damage to cells compared to the negative control. &nbsp

Analysis of the Bioprinting Market in Brazil and its Status in the Global Scenario

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a constantly growing manufacturing technique that can be used from the prototyping stage to the final product in several industries. 3D bioprinting is a variant of conventional AM that uses bioinks, i.e., inks with the presence of cells, to manufacture living biological structures. These structures can be used in applications in the medical field and with therapeutic potential, such as the fabrication of tissues and organ models, drug testing, among others. Considering its importance in the global scenario, this work aimed to evaluate the growth related to 3D bioprinting research in Brazil and in the world, and to analyze the Brazilian market compared to the global panorama. For this, qualitative research, literature search in research bases, and the search for patent records were used. The exponential increase of studies in the area was identified, through graphs with trend lines, exposing its enormous potential for development. It was possible to perceive the notable advance in the use of bioprinting worldwide, as well as in Brazil, a leader in research in the area in Latin America, although it is still lagging behind other countries, occupying the twentieth position worldwide in scientific contributions

The construction of a performance measurement system for self-evaluation of a graduate biotechnology program

The Literature on Performance Measurement Systems (PMS) is vast, however, little is found on the design stage of these for Higher Education. The purpose of this article is to present an SMD built for a Biotechnology Graduate Program (GP) to evaluate its performance. The Value Focused Thinking (VFT) approach was used to identify performance criteria. Mathematical modeling technique was used to identify the weights of these criteria through the Decision Support Method with Multiple Criteria: Analytic Network Process (ANP). Stakeholder decision compatibility was tested. Thirty-five performance indicators were built and grouped into eight fundamental objectives. The evaluation of the program identified that its strengths were Percentage of deadline fulfillment (by students) and Percentage of joint orientations between teachers and that managers should prioritize Percentage of patents or products students / teachers and Percentage teachers / students who participated as advisor / consultant. &nbsp