Vehiculation of active principles as a way to create smart and biofunctional textiles

In some specific fields of application (e.g., cosmetics, pharmacy), textile substrates need to incorporate sensible molecules (active principles) that can be affected if they are sprayed freely on the surface of fabrics. The effect is not controlled and sometimes this application is consequently neglected. Microencapsulation and functionalization using biocompatible vehicles and polymers has recently been demonstrated as an interesting way to avoid these problems. The use of defined structures (polymers) that protect the active principle allows controlled drug delivery and regulation of the dosing in every specific case. Many authors have studied the use of three different methodologies to incorporate active principles into textile substrates, and assessed their quantitative behavior. Citronella oil, as a natural insect repellent, has been vehicularized with two different protective substances; cyclodextrine (CD), which forms complexes with it, and microcapsules of gelatin-arabic gum. The retention capability of the complexes and microcapsules has been assessed using an in vitro experiment. Structural characteristics have been evaluated using thermogravimetric methods and microscopy. The results show very interesting long-term capability of dosing and promising applications for home use and on clothes in environmental conditions with the need to fight against insects. Ethyl hexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC) and gallic acid (GA) have both been vehicularized using two liposomic-based structures: Internal wool lipids (IWL) and phosphatidylcholine (PC). They were applied on polyamide and cotton substrates and the delivery assessed. The amount of active principle in the different layers of skin was determined in vitro using a Franz-cell diffusion chamber. The results show many new possibilities for application in skin therapeutics. Biofunctional devices with controlled functionality can be built using textile substrates and vehicles. As has been demonstrated, their behavior can be assessed using in vitro methods that make extrapolation to their final applications possiblePostprint (published version

Development and characterization of a biopolymer direct-write process for 3D microvascular structures formation.

Engineering of bulk tissues has been limited by the lack of nutrient and waste exchange in these tissues without an adjacent capillary network. To produce microvasculature, a scaffold must be produced that provides temporary mechanical support and stimulate endothelial cell adhesion, growth, and morphogenesis into a vessel. However, current well-established techniques for producing microvasculature, such as electrospinning, are limited since they lack both the precision to control fiber placement in three-dimensional space and the ability to create fiber networks with predefined diameters to replicate the physiological microvascular progression from arteriole to capillary to venule. Our group has developed a “Direct-write” technique using a 3-Axis robotic dispensing system to process polymers into precisely positioned, three-dimensional, suspended fibers with controlled diameters. Within this dissertation, a conceptual scaffold-covering strategy is presented for the formation of the precisely positioned, three-dimensional microvascular structure with a controlled diameter in vitro. This study considers ways to extend the 3-Axis robotic dispensing system by incorporating new biodegradable materials into micro-fibers. First, a number of different biopolymers (natural, synthetic, composites, and copolymers) were used for demonstrating the capability of direct-writing micro-fibers and branched structures with microvascular-scale diameter through the 3-Axial robotic dispensing system. Then, the fabrication process was characterized by a design of experiments and a generalized mathematical model was developed through dimensional analysis. The empirical model determined the correlation between polymer fiber diameter and intrinsic properties of the polymer solution together with the processing parameters of the robotic dispensing system and allows future users the ability to employ the 3-Axis robotic dispensing system to direct-write micro-fibers without trial-and-error work. This study also considers ways to broaden the pre-vascularization methods by covering Human Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells (HDMECs) on the fabricated scaffold to generate the microvascular structure. HDMECs cultured on the produced micro-fiber scaffolds were observed to form a confluent monolayer spread along the axis and around the circumference of the fibers within two days of seeding. Once confluency was reached, the cell-covered scaffold was embedded into a collagen gel and a hybrid structure was formed. Through these experiments, we demonstrate the ability to obtain a cell-viable, flexible, and free-standing “modular tissue”, which could be potentially assembled to a three-dimensional microvascular network through angiogenesis mechanism

Research and Creative Activity, July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020: Major Sponsored Programs and Faculty Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Foreword by Bob Wilhelm, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development: This booklet highlights successes in research, scholarship and creative activity by University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty during the fiscal year running July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. It lists investigators, project titles and funding sources on major grants and sponsored awards received during the year; fellowships and other recognitions and honors bestowed on our faculty; books published by faculty; performances, exhibitions and other creative activity; and patents and licensing agreements issued. Based on your feedback, the Office of Research and Economic Development expanded this publication to include peer-reviewed journal articles and conference presentations and recognize students and faculty mentors participating in the Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experience Program (UCARE) and the First-Year Research Experiences program (FYRE). While metrics cannot convey the full story of our work, they are tangible measures of impact. Nebraska achieved a record $317 million in total research expenditures in FY 2019, a 26$450 million in research expenditures by 2025. Husker researchers are stimulating economic growth through university-sponsored industry activity. Nebraska Innovation Campus created 1,657 jobs statewide and had a total economic impact of $324.1 million in FY 2019. NUtech Ventures brought in$6.6 million in licensing income in FY 2020. The University of Nebraska system now ranks 65th among the top 100 academic institutions receiving U.S. patents, jumping 14 spots from 2019. I am proud of the Nebraska Research community for facing the challenges of 2020 with grit and determination. Our researchers quickly adapted to develop solutions for an evolving pandemic — all while working apart and keeping themselves and their families safe. As an institution, we made a commitment to embrace an anti-racism journey and work toward racial equity. Advancing conversations and developing lasting solutions is among the most important work we can do as scholars. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, rising racial and social tensions, and natural disasters, Nebraska researchers worked diligently to address other pressing issues, such as obesity and related diseases, nanomaterials, agricultural resilience and the state’s STEM workforce. Let’s continue looking forward to what we can accomplish together. Thank you for participating in the grand challenges process and helping identify the wicked problems that Nebraska has unique expertise to solve. Soon, ORED will unveil a Research Roadmap that outlines how our campus will develop research expertise; enrich creative activity; bolster commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; enhance economic development; and much more. Amidst the uncertainty of 2020, I remain confident in our faculty’s talent and commitment. I am pleased to present this record of accomplishments. Contents Awards of $5 Million or More Awards of$1 Million to $4,999,999 Awards of$250,000 to $999,999 Early Career Awards Arts and Humanities Awards of$250,000 or More Arts and Humanities Awards of $50,000 to$249,999 Arts and Humanities Awards of $5,000 to$49,999 Patents License Agreements Creative Activity Books Recognitions and Honors Journal Articles Conference Presentations UCARE and FYRE Projects Glossar

Alternative Feedstocks Program Technical and Economic Assessment: Thermal/Chemical and Bioprocessing Components

This resource document on biomass to chemicals opportunities describes the development of a technical and market rationale for incorporating renewable feedstocks into the chemical industry in both a qualitative and quantitative sense. The term "renewable feedstock?s" can be defined to include a huge number of materials such as agricultural crops rich in starch, lignocellulosic materials (biomass), or biomass material recovered from a variety of processing wastes

Pathways to post-fossil economy in a well below 2 °c world

We explore the pathways for mitigating climate change to at most 2 ℃ and below by imposing a representative target trajectory for radiative forcing and by range of different price trajectories for greenhouse gas emissions. Due to the inertia in both the energy and climate systems, it appears questionable whether the objective of limiting global warming to well-below 2 ℃ is achievable without considerably overshooting the target within the current century. Exceeding the constraints of the estimated carbon budget also means that the initial overshooting must be later compensated by removing the excess emissions with negative emissions, which may become very difficult without substantial technological changes leading the world into a sustainable post-fossil economy. We outline an idealised technology pathway aligning with these viewpoints. The analysis highlights the necessity for immediate mitigation action for avoiding excessive overshooting, the key role of negative emissions, and the prospects of producing synthetic fuels, chemicals and materials from renewables and carbon dioxide for enabling the transition into the post-fossil economy

Smart and Biofunctional Textiles: An Alternative for Vehiculation of Active Principles

In November 2017, the title of the International Symposium on Materials from Renewables (ISMR) was “Advanced, Smart, and Sustainable Polymers, Fibers and Textiles”. Three specific sessions occurred under the denomination of “Smart Fibers and Textiles”. That simple fact gives an idea of the importance of this work. However, what really are smart textiles? In the foreword of the book edited by Tao, X. [1], Lewis states clearly that these type of textiles are not only special finished fabrics. The main defining idea of smart textiles is related to the “active character” of them. Smart textiles “react to environmental stimuli, from mechanical, thermal, chemical, magnetic or others”, including biotechnology, information technology, microelectronics, wearable computers, nanotechnology, and micromechanical machines. Biofunctional textiles are fibrous substrates that have been modified to attain new properties and added value. The main idea is to modify their parameters, especially related to comfort, adapting the tissues’ reaction to external or internal stimuli. Such textiles constitute appropriate substrates to be used for the delivery of active principles in cosmetic or pharmaceutical applications. Due to their specific response, biofunctional textiles are especially useful when the textile comes into close contact with the skin. As most of the human body is covered with some sort of textile, the potential of this type of textile is considerable. Textiles with functional properties used for delivery to skin have been studied and patented [2,3]. Three cases will be explored in this work as examples of biofunctional systems obtained using vehicles to transport different active principles to a textile substrate: Microcapsules, cyclodextrins, and liposomes.Peer reviewe

New Heterogeneous Catalysts Derived from Chitosan for Clean Technology Applications

none7siToday's petrochemical industry is an amazing model of production efficiency, taking crude oil and supplying thousands of discrete chemicals and materials from just seven primary building blocks. Renewable raw materials offer a new set of primary building blocks including carbohydrates in the form of cellulose, starch, homicellulose, and monomeric sugars, aromatics in the form of lignin, hydrocarbons in the form of fatty acids and polyols in the form of glycerol. Yet chemical production today is overwhelmingly dominated by crude oil, principally because conversion technology for renewables still lags far behind that available for nonrenewables. Technology is needed that will lead to renewables based chemical processes that rival or exceed the diversity and efficiency of today's chemical industry. The cellulose and Renewable Materials division (CELL) of American Chemical Society offered a forum for this topic Feedstocks for the Future: Renewables for the production of Chemical and Materials, at the national ACS meeting in Anaheim, CA, March 28-April 1, 2004. This symposium included discussions of emerging conversion technologies for renewable building blocks, new mechanistic understanding of these conversion processes, development of new catalytic processes tailored for renewables, life cycle and process analysis for renewables, and identification of new structures that could serve as platforms for renewables-based product families. The book is intended to have a strong emphasis on organic chemistry, mechanism, and structure, and novel synthesis and production of chemicals, polymers and materials. More specifically, the reader will find information in the following areas: 1) new transformations of carbohydrates to chemicals and polymers 2) novel oleochemical processes; new uses of glycerol and fatty acids 3) transition metal catalyzed transformations of carbohydrates, lignin, fatty acids, glycerol, etc. 4) economic, environmental, and life cycle analysis of chemicals derived from renewables 5) production of new polymeric materials from renewables 6) new biocatalytic transformations of renewable building blocks 7) industrial uses of renewables and renewables based building blocksnoneD.J. Macquarrie; J.J.E. Hardy; S. Hubert; A.J. Deveaux; M. Bandini; R.L. Alvarez; M. ChabrelD.J. Macquarrie; J.J.E. Hardy; S. Hubert; A.J. Deveaux; M. Bandini; R.L. Alvarez; M. Chabre