FP6 - 517036 PECTICOAT Nanobiotechnology for the coating of medical devices

Contacts
Website: www.pecticoat.net/




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Biotechnology : Nanotechnology : Nanotechnology and Materials : Paints/Coatings/Plastics

Type of Project	Integrated Project
Contract No	FP6 - 500311
Total Cost	11,350 KEuro
EC Contribution	9,380 KEuro
Start Date	1-6-2004
Duration	48 Months

Abstract

Surfaces of medical materials and devices that come into direct contact with human tissues need to be fine-tuned with regard to both physical and biological properties. A cross-disciplinary nanotechnology approach is proposed that aims to impart material surfaces with appropriate biological properties. This approach gathers competences from across Europe and includes a critical mass of resources necessary to accelerate the R&D process.

The biomolecules that are to be grafted onto surfaces to function as nanocoatings have been selected from a class of complex polysaccharides, the pectic rhamnogalacturonans, that are known to possess anti-inflammatory properties as well as desirable physical properties. Sugar molecular structure will be altered in a controlled manner so as to favourably influence living cell behaviour around the coated materials.

Current knowledge and expertise within our project team covers technologies to manufacture a range of tailored polysaccharides, to attach the molecules covalently to relevant biomaterials (e.g. titanium for dental implants) and to characterize the grafted surfaces and to assess their biocompatibility both in vitro and in vivo.

We expect to generate evidence demonstrating both the anti-inflammatory and molecular flexibility of the innovative nanocoatings. This will open a platform for the development of a large range of applications that will be defined through industrial guidance and result in solutions for current bioincompatibility problems of various implantable devices.

Industrial monitoring and engineering will allow the exploration of a wide range of applications (breast implants, meshes etc.). For one of these: the dental application, the involvement of industrial SMEs covers the full production chain from raw material to prototype design which will lead in to a demonstration phase.

Coordinator

Divergent SA - Groupe UTC, France

Partners

• Universite de Technologie de Compiagne, France
• Wageningen University, Netherlands
• Universita' Degli Studi di Trento, Italy
• Poalis A/S, Denmark
• Agliati Srl, Italy
• Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Denmark
• University of Oulu, Finland
• Nobil Bio Ricerche S.R.L, Italy
• Statice Santac, France
• Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Belgium
• University of Leeds, UK

Contacts

Contact

• Centre de Recherches UTC FRANCE