Research Area
Active Research fields
1. Hydrogels for drug delivery and tissue engineering; formulations for cosmetic use; formulations for agri-food use.
2. Colloidal polymeric and lipidic carriers (macromolecular conjugates; polymeric micelles; polymeric-protein complexes; polymeric nanoparticles; lipid nanoparticles) as sustained and/or targeted drug delivery; for theranostics; formulations for cosmetic use; formulations for agri-food use.
3. Polymeric biomaterials for gene therapy
Research projects of the last 5 years
PON 2007-2013 - Codice progetto: PON01_01287 Title: “Sib: Soluzioni Avanzate Basate Su Biomateriali a Matrici Composite Complesse per la Riparazione e la Rigenerazione della Cartilagine Articolare Mediante Tecniche Mininvasive”
PON 2007-2013 - Codice progetto: PON02_00355_2964193 Title: Sviluppo di Micro e Nano-Tecnologie e Sistemi Avanzati per la Salute dell'uomo – HIPPOCRATES
PON 2007-2013 - Codice progetto: PON01_01434 Title: “Piattaforma Scientifico-Tecnologica Mirata allo Sviluppo di Nuovi Approcci Terapeutici nel Trattamento delle Principali Patologie Degenerative della Retina” (REACT)
PON03PE_00216_1: DRUG DELIVERY: VEICOLI PER UN’INNOVAZIONE SOSTENIBILE (Distretto Biomedico)
Collaborations
Pincipal Italian Collaborations
Bondì Maria Luisa, Istituto per Lo Studio Dei Materiali Nanostrutturati – Cnr (Italia);
Brucato Valerio MB, Dip. Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale, dei Materiali (DICAM) Università Palermo (Italia);
Cappelli Andrea, Dip. Biotecnologie, Chimica e Farmacia e “European Research Centre for Drug Discovery and Development”, Università Siena (Italia);
Casadei Maria Antonietta, Dip. di “Chimica e Tecnologie del Farmaco”, Università Roma “Sapienza” (Italia);
Castelli Francesco, Dip. Scienze del Farmaco, Università di Catania (Italia);
Cervello Melchiorre, Istituto IBIM, CNR, Palermo (Italia);
Giorgi Mario, Dipartimento “Scienze Veterinarie”, Università Pisa (Italia);
Leone Maurizio, Dip. Fisica e Chimica (DIFC), Università Palermo (Italia);
Lo Monte Attilio Ignazio, Dip. Discipline Chirurgiche, Oncologiche e Stomatologiche (Di.Chir.On.S.), Università Palermo (Italia);
Puleio Roberto, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia “A. Mirri”, Palermo (Italia);
Saiano Filippo, Dip. Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Università Palermo (Italia),
San Biagio Pierluigi, Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Palermo (Italia);
Principal European Collaborations
Marizza Paolo, DTU Nanotech, Department of Micro and Nano technology, Copenhagen, Denmark
Reis Rui L., 3B’s Research Group Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, Dept. of Polymer Engineering University of Minho, Portugal
Macneil Sheila, Department of Engineering Materials, Kroto Research Institute, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Recent Collaborations with Companies
NOVAGENIT s.r.l. (Mezzolombardo Trento, Italy)
Nemysis Ltd (Dublin, Ireland)
SIFI S.p.A. - Società Industria Farmaceutica Italiana (Catania, Italy)
FIDIA FARMACEUTICI Spa
Active research
Lab of Biocompatible Polymers; Lab of Physical characterization and spectrophotometric analysis of chemical substances, Lab of Organic chemical processes, synthesis and purification of polymeric materials; Lab of characterization of biocompatible polymers; Lab of biological characterization of biomaterials and nanostructures
Services delivered under the right of third parties
For over twenty years, the Lab of Biocompatible Polymers conducts research concerning the synthesis, the physico-chemical characterization and, more recently, the preliminary biological characterization of biocompatible polymeric materials employed in the field of controlled release of biologically active substances (drugs, genes, proteins) and in the field of tissue engineering.
Moreover the laboratory has experience on lipid and phospholipid (lipid nanoparticles and liposomes) and oligosaccharide derived materials (cyclodextrins). The high formulation versatility of prepared and characterized systems allows their use also in the diagnostic, cosmetic and agricultural and food field.
Then, this laboratory has experience on the chemistry of natural (eg polysaccharides, peptides, proteins) and synthetic polymers (polyaminoacids, polyesters, polyamides, polyanhydrides), on the most advanced procedures for the functionalization of such materials and on the technological processes that allow their transformation into systems whose sizes range from the nanoscale (nanoparticles, Nanogels, surfactants and polymeric micelles, interpolyelectrolitic complexes with DNA), to microparticles, to hydrogels (biodegradable, stimulus sensitive, intelligent), and to three-dimensional scaffolds for cell growth (films, sponges, fibrillar scaffolds).
The lab already undertakes research on commission of private companies in the production and characterization of systems for drug delivery and tissue regeneration. Some of these systems are already in the scale-up for an upcoming release in market. The Laboratory has highly specialized staff and a large equipment and it is able to interact with a large number of people working in the technological-pharmaceutical, biomedical, diagnostic, cosmetic, agricultural and food fields.
Therefore the Laboratory is able to provide consulting service and research focused on the technological transfer to companies and research institutes both public and private, for the formulation and characterization of both innovative and conventional systems.