Partners France-Norway:
Christoph Schatz, LCPO, Université de Bordeaux, France
Bjørn E. Christensen, NOBIPOL, Dept. Biotechnology, NTNU, Norway
The collaboration focuses on developing an entirely new type of hybrid macromolecules based on abundant, renewable resources (biomass), and which are relevant for both partners of the collaboration, and where the partners (Bordeaux 1 and NTNU) have complementary expertise and common ambitions.
In the first step, oligosaccharides from biomass, specifically cellulose, chitin and alginate, will be obtained. In the next step, new macromolecular hybrids characterized by covalent end-to-end linkages between oligosaccharides will be obtained. Focus on the collaboration is to systematically evaluate possible protocols described in the literature (in different contexts).
The approach represents a step forward compared to current hybrids partly based on synthetic (oil based) polymers, and will provide new biodegradable polymer. The new materials may have relevance for
a) Nanoparticle formation (for drug delivery) in both aqueous and non-aqueous (lipophilic) systems
b) Dendritic-like structures for conjugation of biological ligands of interest (antibodies, proteins, aptamers) for targeting applications
c) Macroscopic biomaterials with tuneable nano- and microstructure (for cell proliferation and tissue engineering)