Dr. Marcela Piassi Bernardo

Visiting researcher (Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Brazil)

Advancing Organic-Inorganic Composites for Skin Regeneration

Collaborator: Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Skin tissue regeneration poses a major challenge, particularly in cases of extensive damage that exceeds the body’s natural healing capacity. While cellulose is an abundant and biocompatible polysaccharide, its limited mechanical strength and bioactivity reduce its effectiveness for skin regeneration (1). These shortcomings can be addressed by incorporating ceramic materials such as niobium oxides, known for their biocompatibility and non-allergenic properties (2). Despite their potential, niobium-based materials remain underexplored in tissue engineering. This project focuses on the development of cellulose-based aerogels functionalized with Nb containing particles to produce multifunctional scaffolds for skin repair. The research is being conducted at the Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Uberlândia (Brazil), in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Aldo R. Boccaccini, Head of the Institute of Biomaterials at Friedrich–Alexander University Erlangen–Nürnberg (FAU), Germany.

(1) Lin, N., & Dufresne, A. (2014). Nanocellulose in biomedicine: Current status and future prospect. European Polymer Journal, 59, 302–325.

(2) Santana, L. N. L., Ribeiro, L. N. M., Gelfuso, G. M., & Batista, C. A. R. (2021). Biomedical applications of niobium-based materials: A review. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, 32(5), 46.