PFI: Creating Value from Agricultural Materials for the Biomedical Market

The Partnerships for Innovation project, Creating Value from Agricultural Materials for the Biomedical Market , proposes a two-year multiphase program to develop and evaluate a new class of degradable biomaterials derived from the abundant plant polysaccharide starch. The partners, the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials (NJCBM),a formal academic consortium working with industry, will create hybrid block copolymers using a convergent assembly synthesis technique where pre-functionalized biopolymer and synthetic polymer building blocks are combined in the appropriate ratios to give the target diblock or triblock copolymers. The biopolymer building blocks will be created from native starch by first utilizing biochemical modifications to alter the molecular weight and polymer architecture of the polysaccharide and then chemically functionalizing the reducing end of the biopolymer to introduce reactive terminal functionality. The synthetic polymer building blocks will be created either by direct polymerization of suitable monomer with functional initiators or chemical modification of the terminals of pre-formed polyesters. The research program will create a new degradable biomaterials platform, and develop scientific understanding of how these materials function at surfaces and biological interfaces, and self-assemble into nanostructures. Because the new materials are based on starch biopolymer and polyester, they will be degradable, have good functional characteristics, exhibit a broad custom design scope and provide improved cost-effectiveness compared to existing block polymer technology. A strategic patent portfolio will be created that includes the new compositions of matter and the use of these materials in biomedical, food packaging, and personal care areas. This intellectual property will provide the basis for future licensing and technology transfer activities well beyond the proposed two-year project.The science and technology (materials and use) developed through the partnership will bring inexpensive and renewable plant polysaccharides into high value biomedical, food packaging, and personal care end use areas. These plant polysaccharides will have clear economic benefits for U.S. agriculture. The research is expected to provide fundamental knowledge relating to the interaction of biomaterials based on plant polysaccharide with human tissue. Life sciences and bioengineering research will benefit by having a new class of materials available for tissue engineering and drug delivery systems.Partners: Partners include Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick (Lead Institution); Rutgers Cook College (Center for Advanced Food Technology (CAFT); U.S. Department of Agriculture - Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS); and Salvona LLC.