Teresa (in the center) with her teachers at Institut Pere Calders
Teresa Soto, high school student at Institut Pere Calders, Bellaterra, has presented her Research Project (Treball de Recerca) entitled “Estudi comparatiu de dos polímers: la cel·lulosa bacteriana i la seda” (Comparative study of two polymers: bacterial cellulose and silk).
The project is about comparing the properties between these two biopolymers: bacterial cellulose, produced in our lab by the bacteria Gluconacetobacter xylinus, and silk, obtained from the cocoons of silkworms.
Jan Grzelak obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Nanostructure Engineering at theUniversity of Warsaw (Poland). Then he started studying the Master program at the same university, also in Nanostructure Engineering. Now he is doing his second and last year of Master with an Erasmus program at the UAB, on Advanced Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.
Jan will join our N&N group atICMAB, and will be supervised by Martí Gich and Anna Laromaine. He will be working on alumina tubes with palladium nanoparticles, using bacterial cellulose as a template for the synthesis.
Follow-up meeting after seven months of starting the E-BCN project (Engineering Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites).
Two PhD students, Soledad Roigand Irene Anton, will be added to the project team. Soledad will work in structuring and patterning bacterial cellulose, and Irene in applying bacterial cellulose nanocomposites for skin regenaration.
Participants of the project include: Anna Roig, Dino Tonti, Jordi Faraudo, Anna Laromaine, Martí Gich, Anna May, Soledad Roig and Irene Anton.
Yesterday, March 1st, was the day for the Kick-off Meeting of the project E-BCN: Engineering Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites(MAT2015-64442-R). The project will have a duration of three years and the team that will be working on it is formed by Anna Roig (PI), Martí Gich, Anna Laromaine, Jordi Faraudo (Materials Simulation and Theory Dept.), Dino Tonti (Solid State Chemistry Dept.), Laura Asturias and Anna May. The main objective of the project is to develop new nanocomposites of bacterial cellulose (BC) by innovative cost-effective approaches. We will engineer BC at the biosynthesis stage, form nanocomposites with BC and nanoparticles, model relevant aspects of BC structure and its interaction with nanoparticles, and provide the proof of concept for novel devices and products. If you want to know more about the project, keep following our activities in our website. You can also check our publications and/or contact us for any further question.
The N&N Group has been granted the project entitled Engineering Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites (E-BCN), MAT2015-64442-R. The three years project will be funded with 180.000 € and a Ph.D. scholarship grant. The Research Group that will participate in the project is formed by Anna Roig (IP), Martí Gich, Anna Laromaine, Jordi Faraudo, Dino Tonti, Laura Asturias and Anna May. Congratulations!
The image, showing the surface modification of bacterial cellulose, is from Zeng et al. J. Mater. Chem. C, 2014,2, 6312-6318.
Next Monday, February 1st, at 12 pm, Dr. Anna Laromaine, member of our group, will give the ICMAB Periodical Lecture. Anna will talk about “Caenorhabditis elegans and bacterial cellulose: exploiting nature to build materials”.
Short abstract : Many researches have been inspired by nature, from the synthesis of materials mimicking our environment to the evaluation of materials using in vivo animal models. In this talk, I will briefly introduce two approaches that we have been working recently in the group. First, I will present the use of the small animal model, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). The characteristics of this model organism endorse this 1 mm long nematode as an ideal living system for the primary screening of engineered nanoparticles in a standard synthetic laboratory. I will present how using the worm, we assessed iron oxide nanoparticles in a simple and facile way. On the other hand, I will present how a bacterial strain can produce cellulose (named bacterial cellulose (BC)), of the same molecular formula as vegetal cellulose; however exhibiting a higher degree of polymerization and better crystallinity. BC also has high porosity, transparency in the UV-NIR and a high water holding capacity. I will show how we controlled its structure and fabricate nanocomposites that can respond to external stimulus.
“Caenorhabditis elegans and bacterial cellulose: exploiting nature to build materials” By: Dr. Anna Laromaine Date: Monday, 1st February Time: 12 pm Place: ICMAB Meeting room
Anna and Muling showed the bacterial cellulose paper developed in our group during the last episode of QUÈQUICOM, a science popularization program of the Catalan TV (TV3 and Canal 33).
