In the last decades, 3D printing has emerged as a powerful technique to create personalized objects and is now considered as a leading technology in numerous sectors of industry1. Using this solid basis, 4D printing was more recently introduced. Here smart (composite) materials are used to print functional objects with on demand properties. In this way, custom-made time-programmable...
Understanding the cross-linking mechanisms of elastomer blends: Relationships between morphology, cross-linking and mechanical behaviour.
Pierre Daniel (a), Pierre Pubellier (b), Clément Robin (b), Valérie Gaucher (c), Grégory Stoclet (c), Cédric Lorthioir (a)
(a) Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Laboratoire...
Most dietary fibres (DF) are polysaccharides that resist the hydrolytic digestive enzymes released in the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT). DF may, however, be fermented by our gut microbiota, a diverse and numerous group of microorganisms present in our large intestine. The gut microbiota and its fermentation products are vital in maintaining our overall health and well-being,...
In France, several hundred thousand cancers are reported every year. In particular, cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) are among the most frequent. 7 out of 10 patients are treated with radiotherapy. However, side effects can occur, including a major complication called mandibular osteoradionecrosis. This complication is characterized by soft tissue and bone necrosis and can lead...
Benzisothiazolinones (BIT) belong to a remarkable class of organic compounds known for their biocidal activity. [1] For this reason, they are extensively used in different applications including the widely employed drug Ebsulfur and many commercial additives, from laundry detergents [2] to food packaging.[3]
The deactivation mechanism of bacterial proteins begins with the nucleophilic attack...
To alleviate negative impacts on the environment, polyelectrolyte complexes coacervate system (PCC), based on electrostatic interactions between two oppositely charged polyelectrolytes (PEs) in water, are suggested as an alternative of conventional chemically-linked resins. The reversibility of the interactions in coacervates via the addition of excess salt makes recovery at the end of their...
Individual polymer chains endowed with appropriate functionality can be folded in dilute solution to nano-sized objects called single-chain nanoparticles (SCNPs) through a wide range of covalent or non-covalent interactions. The resulting nanoscale polymeric objects hold promise for several potential applications in nanomedicine, including the development of new biosensors of inflammatory...
Pulmonary surfactants (PS) form a complex film at the alveolar surface of the lungs, consisting of phospholipids (80-90 %), neutral lipids such as cholesterol (8-10 %) and surfactant proteins (SP-B, SP-A) (5-10 %)1. It plays a major role in sustaining the breathing mechanics by the reduction of surface tension (~0 mN/m) to prevent the alveolar collapse during respiration cycles2. The...
Microbial glycolipid bio surfactants, developed to replace petrochemical surfactants, are highly attractive amphiphilic compounds due to their pH-driven self-assembly properties1. The glycolipid GC18:1, which consists of a glucose group linked to a C18:1 fatty acid, is found to be in micellar phase above pH 7. It was previously reported that the micellar phase is precursor of fibrillar or...
Solid-supported polymer membranes (SSPMs) are well-suited models to study physicochemical properties of self-assembled, polymeric membranes due to their accessibility to surface-sensitive techniques such as Quartz-Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Additionally, when equipped with functional moieties such as biomolecules (membrane proteins,...
Lysozyme has been widely investigated, as a convenient model protein, due to its ability to form amyloid fibrils in acidic conditions at high temperatures. Most of these studies, either those connected to the development of amyloidogenic diseases or to the formation of functional biomaterials have considered rather diluted samples, in which the lysozyme self-assembly lead to the formation of...
Synthetic polymers and solvents are dangerous for human health and the environment; therefore, nowadays scientific community highlights the use of reversible and non-toxic materials for green chemistry. Biopolymers, such as Chitosan, Pectin, Hydroxypropyl cellulose, and Keratin, are one of the alternative materials to be applied as non-toxic systems, low-cost, sustainable, and environmentally...
Peptide-based drugs are needed to treat cancer, diabetes, and irritable bowel syndrome. Peptide drugs are usually taken orally, however their size and hydrophilicity make them difficult to cross the intestinal epithelium, limiting oral bioavailability. Transient "permeability enhancer" (PE) fatty acid-based substances and peptides in the intestinal lumen can overcome the epithelial...
The aim of this research project is the characterization of complexes and interactions between plant-based proteins and phospholipids. In order to modal this system, pea globulin and phosphatidylcholine (soy-based) are used as plant-based protein source and phospholipid source, respectively. Understanding this interaction enables the researchers and the industry to develop plant-based...
pH-responsive polymers have enabled the development of novel materials with a wide range of applications in food science, biotechnology, pharmaceutics, catalysis, agriculture and other fields. These materials are based on electrostatic interactions of polyelectrolyte charged groups such as phosphate, carboxylate, sulfonate, ammonium or pyridinium. However, in weak polyions, the ionization...
Clay nanoparticles are gaining attention due to their remarkable physical and chemical properties.
On one hand, this work proposes a comprehensive analysis of water in nanoclays, investigating both platy and tubular clays, specifically halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and kaolinite, highlighting the differences between them. In particular, NMR techniques were exploited: solid state, self-diffusion...
Janus nano plates, bowls and cups: Controlling size and curvature via terpolymer/homopolymer blending in 3D confinement
Suna Azhdari [1], Yorick Post [1], Manuel Trömer [1], Deniz Coban [1], Giada Quintieri [1], André H. Gröschel [1,2]
[1] Institute for Physical Chemistry, University of Münster, Corrensstr. 28/30, 48149 Münster Germany
[2] Macromolecular Chemistry and Center for Battery...
Abstract
An innovative and sustainable system for wet cleaning treatments has been developed by our group during the last years, based on the synergic application of poly(vinyl alcohol) PVA based chemical hydrogels and PVA shelled microbubbles (PVAMBs)[1,2]. PVA, is already widely used for biomedical applications, due to its biocompatibility and versatility and represents a further...
The recently discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FENLC) are liquids, that exhibit both long-range orientational ordering of the elongated constituents and ordering of the constituents’ dipolar moments[1,2,3]. One important aspect of these materials is how external mechanical action affects their electric polarization structure. In the viscous regime, applied stress in FNLC will...
Caloric effects are reversible thermal changes under an applied external electric, magnetic, or mechanical field. The caloric response is expected to be largest near a phase transition where the corresponding order parameter can be manipulated by an external field. Materials with a large caloric response have a potential use in alternative cooling technology that could be more efficient and...
![DPPS Bilayer snapshot with its associated dielectric permittivity profile and detail of the DPPS molecule][1]
Fig A. Snapshot of two lipid bilayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylserine (DPPS, negatively charged in the head) in water (not shown) in presence of Na+ counter-ions. Red arrows show the attractive interaction between the bilayers.
Colors: C – black ; O – red ; P – green ; N – blue...
Scattering experiments are a powerful way to probe the evolution of the microstructure in heterogeneous materials, for example, immiscible polymer blends. In spinodal decomposition – the process of spontaneous demixing following a temperature or pressure change – information about the microstructure can be deduced from measurements of the scattering intensity (Higgins & Benoit, 1994). While...
Nonlinear optics are powerful tools for structural investigation of liquids. In particular, surface second harmonic generation (SSHG) has been demonstrated to be able to probe the properties of liquids at molecular scale. In fact, second harmonic generation (SHG) signal generated at the liquid interface (e.g. air/water interface) contains information on the elements of the second order...
We aim to develop novel
Pickering emulsions for Food
Applications using solid organic
particulate materials as stabilizers
which generally include edible
substances such as polysaccharide,
protein, or lipid particles. In this case,
stabilizers are made up of solid
particulates, generally protein
nanoparticles coming from Moringa
oleifera tree source, where Moringa oil
is the...
Hybrid materials called bionanocomposites will be generated, formed from the mixture of biopolymers (fish gelatin) and metallic nanoparticles. These hybrid materials are generated using green methodologies and are promising candidates to provide materials through different processing methods, such as film casting, electrospinning [1], and 3D printing, with advanced applications such as drug...
Hydrogels are soft materials formed by polymeric networks that can absorb significant amounts of water while remaining insoluble in water due to chemical or physical cross-linking. Over the past few decades, hydrogels have become a subject of growing research interest because of their unique properties, including their ability to swell, flexibility, biocompatibility, and non-toxicity. [1,2]...
The preparation of porous materials with hierarchical porosity is a challenging endeavor. However, such materials are extremely useful for a number of applications, including chromatographic separations, catalysis, membranes preparation and electrodes for batteries. Inorganic porous materials could be used also as skeletons for the preparation of composite materials with a complex...
Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) of graphene on liquid metal catalysts has recently gained attention due to its uniform, homogeneous surface, which enables an efficient self-defect healing mechanism. This results in the growth of mono-crystalline single-layer graphene (SLG), enhanced mobility, reduced material and energy consumption, and catalyst reusability[1]. Theoretically, it should be...
Plant protein sources provide a potential solution to fulfill the demand for nutritious proteins caused by the ever-increasing world population. In particular, rapeseed is an attractive protein source as it is already produced on a large scale for its oil content. The remaining seed storage proteins after the oil extraction are highly nutritious. However, rapeseed storage proteins are...
Highly sulfated heparin-mimicking polyelectrolytes effectively act as anticoagulants with tailorable structure and tunable sulfation degree. This versatility has prompted the scope of their biomedical applications. However, the complex charge regulation of the polymer chain and the mechanisms controlling the structure of such polymers remain unclear.
Sodium...
Due to health and environmental factors, the food industry is looking for ways to introduce meat alternatives made from plant-based proteins to consumer markets. High-moisture extrusion (HME) is the most widely used method for converting proteins and polysaccharides into a meat alternative with a highly hierarchical fibrous structural organization. However, the HME process is usually...
Molecular chaperones are proteins with functions related to folding processes in the cell, such as correcting misfolding of client proteins, aggregation prevention and solubilization of aggregates. Human Hsp70-escort protein 1 (hHep1, or Zim17/TIM15/DNLZ) is a co-chaperone protein necessary for the activity of an essential chaperone in the cell: the mitochondrial Hsp70 (mtHsp70), which aids in...
Bioadhesion is the stable attachment of an organism to a surface due to natural macromolecules. This mechanism has attracted much attention recently due to the ongoing progress in the study of marine bioadhesives. This research work is focused on an adhesive protein from a flatworm of the Macrostomum genus, distributed in the intertidal zone. Its reversible adhesion to solid substrates in wet...
The normal-to-cancer transition (NTC) is still a poorly understood process, known to be closely associated to cellular biomechanical properties. These are strongly dependent on the behaviour of water, which plays a key role in normal cellular activity and in maintaining the three-dimensional architecture of the tissue. In this study, quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) was used to probe...
