Project: Bio-based materials and Bio-inspired Materials
Despite the high potential of new biotech drugs in human therapy, clinical application of new “genetic, proteic and peptidic medicines” is hampered due to the biopharmaceutical limitations of these molecules. Indeed, the "Achilles' heel" of the pharmaceutical industries for the development of new therapies based on the aforementioned drugs is the lack of safe vehicles able to provide effective delivery of these drugs (industrial need). The proposed project will combine expertise and efforts made in the EU by expert scientists from academia and industry active in the field of drug delivery and in ocular therapeutics, in particular based on biotech drugs (proteins and genetic material), to develop new ocular drug delivery strategies. More concretely, this project aims to integrate material and biomedical sciences and will create an innovation oriented setting for a successful transfer of knowledge to industry by development of new nanoparticulate delivery systems. These systems will be intended for optimal treatment of patients affected by diseases with high prevalence and socio-economic impact, such as inflammatory ocular diseases, by inhibiting specific factors involved in these diseases (i.e. TNF-α, IL-6). For the development of such nanomedicines we propose herein the design of a new generation of nanostructures made of safe naturally-occurring biomaterials (i.e., hyaluronic and chondroitin). More specifically, we will design nanoparticulate carriers based on inherent constituents of the human body intended to selectively deliver bioactive molecules to specific cells or tissues. The design of these systems will provide specific architecture and functionality, increased interactions with the ocular structures and high interaction with the bioactive molecules which could help to improve the protection of these molecules against extracellular or intracellular degradation. This consortium should provide the means to speed up and facilitate the generation of concepts for targeted delivery systems and to exploit existing and new knowledge based on transnational, interdisciplinary and innovative nanotechnological approaches, i.e. the combination of a new drug carrier, and a protein drug or genetic material and in the technology transfer from academia to industry. Therefore we will guarantee that the knowledge produced will immediately be exploited to benefit European industry and consumers (innovation chain). Indeed, the consortium plans to bridge the gap between academic, concept oriented research on new innovative material-related drug targeting strategies, and the research/development stage of a high tech company that should actually develop the product for the market or, in other words, to convert the successful concepts into industrial applications and products in European business life and industry (industrial exploitation within the medium term). In this respect, socio-economic aspects of the project are related to the development of new medical products which will make possible cost-efficient treatments and subsequent improvement in the quality of life for the growing number of patients with serious inflammatory ocular health problems in the European Community and in the world.
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Acronym
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NanoBioMaterials
(Reference Number: BBM-1856)
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Project Topic
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Bio-based and bio-inspired materials
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Network
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MATERA+
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Call
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Matera+ Call
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Project partner
