Luismar Porto's Biography

Luismar Porto, Associate Professor, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) Brazil

Luismar M. Porto received his Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidade Regional de Blumenau (1980), and Masters degree in Physical Chemistry from Federal University of Santa Catarina-UFSC (Florianópolis, SC)/COPPE-UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro, RJ), Brazil (1987), and then his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University (1993), Evanston, IL, USA. Prof. Porto has spent one year (2001-2002) as a post-doc at the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Queensland - Brisbane, Australia, where he has acquired basic skills in the area of Biological and Biomedical Engineering. Prof. Porto is currently an Associate Professor of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), one of the leading academic and research institutions in Brazil. At UFSC, Prof. Porto was part of the group that has founded the Chemical and Food Engineering Department, where he has served as its Head of Department, the Masters Program in Chemical Engineering, which he has served as a Chairman, and the Doctoral Program in Chemical Engineering. At UFSC he supervises the Integrated Technologies Laboratory (www.intelab.ufsc.br) and leads the Genomic Engineering Group, an inter-institutional research group with interests in advanced biotech products.

Modification of Bacterial Nano-cellulose with IKVAV Peptide for Tissue Engineering Applications

Friday, 17 March 2017 at 15:30

Add to Calendar ▼2017-03-17 15:30:002017-03-17 16:30:00Europe/LondonModification of Bacterial Nano-cellulose with IKVAV Peptide for Tissue Engineering ApplicationsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

The fabrication of suitable porous polymer scaffolds which mimic natural tissues is still one of the main challenges of tissue engineering. Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) hydrogels possesses a nanofiber network that resembles the native extracellular matrix. The immobilization of bioactive molecules into its microstructure may add functionality and improves support for adhesion and proliferation of human cells. The main goal of this work was the functionalization of BNC hydrogel membrane with IKVAV peptide (BHMI) to enhance the biomaterial. BNC membranes were produced by Gluconacetobacter hansenii. BHMIs were prepared by oxidation reaction of BNC followed by chemical derivatization with EDC (1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide) and functionalization with IKVAV. Scanning electron microscopy imaging of BNC before oxidation showed a clear 3D nanofiber network structure; after IKVAV immobilization, granules of the peptide were formed on the nanofiber surface. Functionalization was confirmed by Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy. Human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVECs) were aseptically seeded on BHMI and, after 48 hours, the functionalized scaffold was able to promote HUVEC adhesion and proliferation. Cell alignment, spreading and endothelial tube organization was also observed. Our results showed that BNC-IKVAV hydrogels supports tubulogenesis in vitro showing that they are a very versatile biomaterial.

Add to Calendar ▼2017-03-16 00:00:002017-03-17 00:00:00Europe/London3D-Bioprinting, Tissue Engineering and Synthetic BiologySELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

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