Guarda, Portugal, Sept. 4, 2024 (Lusa) - The Polytechnic Institute of Guarda (IPG) 's new research unit, announced on Wednesday, wants to use a paper industry by-product to encapsulate drugs, namely anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, or anxiolytic therapeutic agents.
BRIDGES (Biotechnology Research, Innovation and Design for Health Products), IPG's new research unit, will transform lignin, a by-product of paper pulp, into a resource for encapsulating drugs in the biomedical industry, the Polytechnic of Guarda said in a statement sent to the Lusa news agency.
For the project, called Bio-Ligne, the Polytechnic's team is collaborating with the company Biotek S.A., from Vila Velha de Ródão (Castelo Branco district), to optimise the extraction of lignin from pulp industry wastewater and use it as a raw material to produce innovative nanomaterials for drug delivery.
‘We intend to valorise a by-product of the paper industry, which is normally discarded and incinerated, demonstrating its applicability in the development of new biomedical products,’ says André Moreira, a lecturer at the School of Health and coordinator of the Bio-Ligne project, quoted in the press release.
The lecturer added that the industrial partner (Biotek) will provide samples from which the lignin will be extracted. This lignin will be used to develop new delivery systems (capsules) for therapeutic agents.
Bio-Ligne wants to use lignin's hydrophobic nature (it doesn't absorb or retain water) to create nanoparticles in a fast, efficient, and scalable process, using the technique known as ‘flash nanoprecipitation’.
Initially, the potential of lignin-based nanoparticles to act as drug-release systems will be tested through computer simulation.
Next, the interaction between lignin and therapeutic molecules will be evaluated, and therapeutic agents' encapsulation efficiency and release profile will be studied (i.e. the compatibility of lignin with other agents normally present in drug capsules will be assessed).
Subsequently, nanomaterials containing therapeutic agents (anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory or anxiolytic) will be analysed, assessing their potential for application in the treatment of various ailments, such as cancer and inflammatory diseases.
‘The project will pave the way for a collaborative, cross-sector network between the paper and pharmaceutical industries, driving biotechnological solutions based on lignin from the laboratory to the clinic,’ says André Moreira.
The project will last 18 months (from 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2026) and will be funded with €50,000. The team will consist of IPG students, researchers, and teachers.
The president of the Polytechnic of Guarda, Joaquim Brigas, also quoted in the statement, says that Bio-Ligne is part of the development of applied research linked to biotechnology, one of the IPG's priorities.
According to the educational institution, between 50 and 70 million tonnes of lignin are extracted worldwide every year, and this figure is expected to rise to 225 million tonnes by 2030.
‘In recent years, lignin has been recognised as a valuable natural polymer: it has immense potential for developing biotechnological solutions for tissue regeneration and drug delivery due to its abundant availability, biocompatibility, structural versatility and mechanical properties,’ said the note.
However, the extraction and exploitation of lignin are not currently considered for biomedical purposes, and only around one million tonnes of lignin waste worldwide is isolated and sold for industrial applications.
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