Electrospun polymer nonwovens as highly functional substrates for advanced applications in waste water treatment and medical applications

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Seema Agarwal; Professor Dr. Andreas Greiner; Professor Dr. Karsten Mäder
• Subject Area: Polymer Materials
• Term: from 2013 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 235690896

The topic of this trilateral research project of an international interdisciplinary research team is the investigation of electrospun polymer nanofiber nonwovens as functional carriers for biological agents (bacteria and drugs). The motivation for these investigations is the basic understanding of the active role of electrospun polymer nanofiber nonwovens as carriers for biological agents and probing of these results for solutions for actual related problems. The basic hypothesis of the project is that sustainable preservation of the function of biological agents in electrospun nonwovens is possible for various related applications. Significantly better performance of composites of electrospun polymer nonwoven / biological agents as compared to pure agents (microbes and drugs) is expected due to responsive and selective hybrid configuration and due to protection of the active biological agents under adverse environmental conditions. For this model research are suggested as biologically active substances bacteria for waste water treatment of olive oil mill liquid waste and drugs for the treatment of parasite-based disease like leishmaniasis and malaria. The flexibility in the design of polymer systems and electrospun nanofiber nonwovens should be an ideal platform for the preparation of novel hybrid systems to provide answers for questions to the role of eletrospun nonwovens. The expected outcome of this project will be an answer to the question of whether electrospun polymer nonwovens as carriers for biologically active agents will provide significant advantages or not. This answer will be verified on concrete applications of waste water treatment and therapy for parasite diseases.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel, Palestine
• International Co-Applicants: Professor Dr. Ziad A. Abdeen; Dr. Jacob Golenser; Professor Dr. Charles Greenblatt; Professor Charles L. Jaffe, Ph.D.; Eyal Zussman, Ph.D.
• Co-Investigator: Professor Dr. James Stefan Rokem