Nazely Diban - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Nazely Diban

Research paper thumbnail of Performance of TiO2-Based Tubular Membranes in the Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Compounds

Membranes

This work presents the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water with TiO2 and Ti... more This work presents the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water with TiO2 and TiO2/Ag membranes prepared by immobilising photocatalysts on ceramic porous tubular supports. The permeation capacity of TiO2 and TiO2/Ag membranes was checked before the photocatalytic application, showing high water fluxes (≈758 and 690 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, respectively) and <2% rejection against the model pollutants sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS) and dichloroacetic acid (DCA). When the membranes were submerged in the aqueous solutions and irradiated with UV-A LEDs, the photocatalytic performance factors for the degradation of DCA were similar to those obtained with suspended TiO2 particles (1.1-fold and 1.2-fold increase, respectively). However, when the aqueous solution permeated through the pores of the photocatalytic membrane, the performance factors and kinetics were two-fold higher than for the submerged membranes, mostly due to the enhanced contact between the pollutants and...

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 5 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 5: Figure S5. (A) Three-dimensional reconstruction of confocal microscope images ... more Additional file 5: Figure S5. (A) Three-dimensional reconstruction of confocal microscope images of a MCF7 cellular islet formed after growth over PAN/G10 for 5 days and co-stained with Phalloidin-FITC and DAPI. (B) Image was rotated 90º from the previous (top to bottom) to observe the vertical growth of the islet. (C) Gallery of the images used for 3D-reconstruction in (A). Note that all cross-sectional views of the islet show compact cellular aggregation. Scale bar: 30 µm.

Research paper thumbnail of On the quest of reliable 3D dynamic in vitro blood-brain barrier models using polymer hollow fiber membranes: Pitfalls, progress, and future perspectives

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

With the increasing concern of neurodegenerative diseases, the development of new therapies and e... more With the increasing concern of neurodegenerative diseases, the development of new therapies and effective pharmaceuticals targeted to central nervous system (CNS) illnesses is crucial for ensuring social and economic sustainability in an ageing world. Unfortunately, many promising treatments at the initial stages of the pharmaceutical development process, that is at the in vitro screening stages, do not finally show the expected results at the clinical level due to their inability to cross the human blood-brain barrier (BBB), highlighting the inefficiency of in vitro BBB models to recapitulate the real functionality of the human BBB. In the last decades research has focused on the development of in vitro BBB models from basic 2D monolayer cultures to 3D cell co-cultures employing different system configurations. Particularly, the use of polymeric hollow fiber membranes (HFs) as scaffolds plays a key role in perfusing 3D dynamic in vitro BBB (DIV-BBB) models. Their incorporation into...

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of the properties of different graphene-based nanomaterials dispersed in polycaprolactone membranes on astrocytic differentiation

Scientific Reports

Composites of polymer and graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) combine easy processing onto porous... more Composites of polymer and graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) combine easy processing onto porous 3D membrane geometries due to the polymer and cellular differentiation stimuli due to GBNs fillers. Aiming to step forward to the clinical application of polymer/GBNs composites, this study performs a systematic and detailed comparative analysis of the influence of the properties of four different GBNs: (i) graphene oxide obtained from graphite chemically processes (GO); (ii) reduced graphene oxide (rGO); (iii) multilayered graphene produced by mechanical exfoliation method (Gmec); and (iv) low-oxidized graphene via anodic exfoliation (Ganodic); dispersed in polycaprolactone (PCL) porous membranes to induce astrocytic differentiation. PCL/GBN flat membranes were fabricated by phase inversion technique and broadly characterized in morphology and topography, chemical structure, hydrophilicity, protein adsorption, and electrical properties. Cellular assays with rat C6 glioma cells, as mode...

Research paper thumbnail of TiO2–Zeolite Metal Composites for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants in Water

Catalysts

Immobilization of photocatalysts in porous materials is an approach to significantly minimize the... more Immobilization of photocatalysts in porous materials is an approach to significantly minimize the hazards of manipulation and recovery of nanoparticles. Inorganic materials, such as zeolites, are proposed as promising materials for photocatalyst immobilization mainly due to their photochemical stability. In this work, a green synthesis method is proposed to combine TiO2-based photocatalysts with commercial ZY zeolite. Moreover, a preliminary analysis of their performance as photocatalysts for the abatement of organic pollutants in waters was performed. Our results show that the physical mixture of TiO2 and zeolite maintains photocatalytic activity. Meanwhile, composites fabricated by doping TiO2–zeolite Y materials with silver and palladium nanoparticles do not contribute to improving the photocatalytic activity beyond that of TiO2.

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 2 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 2: Figure S2. (A) Dot plot comparing the ICN/IG ratio from Raman spectra of batch... more Additional file 2: Figure S2. (A) Dot plot comparing the ICN/IG ratio from Raman spectra of batch 1 (uneven G, yellow dots) and batch 2 (even G, green dots) PAN/G10 membranes after a surface mapping of 0.144 x 0.088 mm, where a minimum of 30 points were analyzed. Line on each dot plot represents the mean. (B, D) Optical images of the surface of batch 1 PAN/G10 membrane (uneven G, B) and batch 2 (even G, D). (C, E) Confocal images of MCF7 cells after 2 days of culture on PAN/G10 membranes of batch 1 (uneven G, C) and batch 2 (even G, E). ***: p

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 4 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 4: Figure S4. (A–H) Confocal microscopy images of Phalloidin-FITC stained SH-SY5Y... more Additional file 4: Figure S4. (A–H) Confocal microscopy images of Phalloidin-FITC stained SH-SY5Y (A, B), U87 (C–D), C6 (E, F) and HeLa (G, H) cell lines derived from different cancer types (neuroblastoma, glioblastoma, glioma and cervix carcinoma) with a well-known migratory capacity were grown for 24–48 h, except for SH-SY5Y (5 days), on glass coverslips or PAN/G10 as indicated. (I–L) SV40 and hTERT immortalized non-tumoral MEFs and ASC52 cell cultures were also analyzed by confocal microscopy. Note in J and L that the morphology of non-carcinogenic cells is not affected by the growth over PAN/G10 scaffolds. Scale bar: 30µ m (A, B), 20 µm (G, H), 10 µm (C–F and I–L).

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 1 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 1: Figure S1. (A) Culture medium contact angle average values of the indicated PA... more Additional file 1: Figure S1. (A) Culture medium contact angle average values of the indicated PAN/G membranes. (B, C) Plots of the relative dielectric permittivity (B) and electric conductivity (C) of the PAN/G2; PAN/G10 and PAN/G15 membranes measured by means of electrical impedance between 103 and 104 Hz of applied frequency.

Research paper thumbnail of Evidences of the Effect of GO and rGO in PCL Membranes on the Differentiation and Maturation of Human Neural Progenitor Cells

Macromolecular Bioscience, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Life cycle assessment of technologies for partial dealcoholisation of wines

Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2015

Wine is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in the world. This beverage, in moderation, is c... more Wine is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in the world. This beverage, in moderation, is considered to be heart healthy, particularly the red variety. However, civil concerns and some health reasons have greatly increased the consumer demand for dealcoholised wines. Several techniques for producing low-and reduced-strength alcoholic beverages have been developed over the last several years. The most common treatments are spinning cone column (SCC) and membrane technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) or ultrafiltration (UF). An innovative technology, called evaporative pertraction (EP) has shown promising results for the partial dealcoholisation of wine. This technology has some drawbacks and some benefits such as low energy demand. Therefore, a life cycle perspective is required to evaluate technology along with its environmental impacts. This work assesses and compares the environmental performance of EP, SCC and RO fusing a life cycle assessment methodology based on the use of two variables: natural resources sustainability (NRS) and environmental burdens sustainability (EBS). For the technologies, RO presented a higher energy consumption and lower materials and water demands than did EP, whereas the latter displayed better results in all of the air categories except for human health effects (HHE) and in three of the five water categories. The highest consumption of natural resources (NR) and the greatest environmental burdens (EB) in all of the categories were given by the SCC technology. Nevertheless, this situation was reversed when the wastewater from the SCC process, with its high ethanol content, was energy valorised.

Research paper thumbnail of 383401 Simultaneous CO2 Valorization and DME Production Using a Packed-Bed Mem-Brane Reactor with in Situ Water Removal

Abstracts: * Zarca et al_AIChE meeting 2014.pdf (446.3KB) - Uploading Abstracts

Research paper thumbnail of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Films with Favourable Properties for Neural Cell Growth

Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2015

The regeneration of brain tissue is one of the major challenges in regenerative medicine due to t... more The regeneration of brain tissue is one of the major challenges in regenerative medicine due to the lack of viable grafts to support the re-growth of functional tissue after a traumatic injury. The development of biocompatible and biodegradable structures with appropriate morphology for the interaction with neural tissue is required. The objective pursued in this work is to develop a biodegradable 2D scaffold structure for neural tissue engineering. Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was the selected material due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability in the long term. PCL (15%w/w) was dissolved in N-methylpyrrolidone and the film was fabricated by phase inversion casting technique employing ethanol and isopropanol as coagulation baths. The physical structure, morphology and topography of the flat scaffolds were characterized using different techniques. The two different scaffolds presented homogeneous structure with high porosity (higher than 85%), contact angles higher than 90(o), high roughness (Ra&gt; 0.6 μm) and superficial pore sizes of 0.7 and 1.7 μm, respectively. Permeance tests showed high water permeabilities (~350-590 mL m(-1) bar(-1) h(-1)) indicative of promising nutrients supply to the cells. Finally, in vitro human glioblastoma cells cultures after 48 hours showed good cell attachment, proliferation and penetration in the scaffolds. Detailed evaluation of the interaction between the surface morphology and the properties of the scaffolds with the cell response has been done. Thus, the PCL films herein fabricated show promising results as scaffolds for neural tissue regeneration.

Research paper thumbnail of Coaxial Synthesis of PEI-Based Nanocarriers of Encapsulated RNA-Therapeutics to Specifically Target Muscle Cells

Biomolecules

In this work, we performed a methodological comparative analysis to synthesize polyethyleneimine ... more In this work, we performed a methodological comparative analysis to synthesize polyethyleneimine (PEI) nanoparticles using (i) conventional nanoprecipitation (NP), (ii) electrospraying (ES), and (iii) coaxial electrospraying (CA). The nanoparticles transported antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), either encapsulated (CA nanocomplexes) or electrostatically bound externally (NP and ES nanocomplexes). After synthesis, the PEI/ASO nanoconjugates were functionalized with a muscle-specific RNA aptamer. Using this combinatorial formulation methodology, we obtained nanocomplexes that were further used as nanocarriers for the delivery of RNA therapeutics (ASO), specifically into muscle cells. In particular, we performed a detailed confocal microscopy-based comparative study to analyze the overall transfection efficiency, the cell-to-cell homogeneity, and the mean fluorescence intensity per cell of micron-sized domains enriched with the nanocomplexes. Furthermore, using high-magnification elect...

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 9 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 9. Additional experimental procedures.

Research paper thumbnail of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Cancer Nanotechnology, 2022

Background Recent advances from studies of graphene and graphene-based derivatives have highlight... more Background Recent advances from studies of graphene and graphene-based derivatives have highlighted the great potential of these nanomaterials as migrastatic agents with the ability to modulate tumor microenvironments. Nevertheless, the administration of graphene nanomaterials in suspensions in vivo is controversial. As an alternative approach, herein, we report the immobilization of high concentrations of graphene nanoplatelets in polyacrylonitrile film substrates (named PAN/G10) and evaluate their potential use as migrastatic agents on cancer cells. Results Breast cancer MCF7 cells cultured on PAN/G10 substrates presented features resembling mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition, e.g., (i) inhibition of migratory activity; (ii) activation of the expression of E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18, ZO-1 and EpCAM, four key molecular markers of epithelial differentiation; (iii) formation of adherens junctions with clustering and adhesion of cancer cells in aggregates or islets, and (iv) reorgan...

Research paper thumbnail of Thermodynamic Modeling and Validation of the Temperature Influence in Ternary Phase Polymer Systems

Polymers, 2021

The effect of the temperature, as a process variable in the fabrication of polymeric membranes by... more The effect of the temperature, as a process variable in the fabrication of polymeric membranes by the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique, has been scarcely studied. In the present work, we studied the influence of temperature, working at 293, 313 and 333 K, on the experimental binodal curves of four ternary systems composed of PVDF and PES as the polymers, DMAc and NMP as the solvents and water as the non-solvent. The increase of the temperature caused an increase on the solubility gap of the ternary system, as expected. The shift of the binodal curve with the temperature was more evident in PVDF systems than in PES systems indicating the influence of the rubbery or glassy state of the polymer on the thermodynamics of phase separation. As a novelty, the present work has introduced the temperature influence on the Flory–Huggins model to fit the experimental cloud points. Binary interaction parameters were calculated as a function of the temperature: (i) non-solvent...

Research paper thumbnail of Membrane and Osmotic Distillation Processes

Research paper thumbnail of Critical Issues and Guidelines to Improve the Performance of Photocatalytic Polymeric Membranes

Catalysts, 2020

Photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMR), with immobilized photocatalysts, play an important role i... more Photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMR), with immobilized photocatalysts, play an important role in process intensification strategies; this approach offers a simple solution to the typical catalyst recovery problem of photocatalytic processes and, by simultaneous filtration and photocatalysis of the aqueous streams, facilitates clean water production in a single unit. The synthesis of polymer photocatalytic membranes has been widely explored, while studies focused on ceramic photocatalytic membranes represent a minority. However, previous reports have identified that the successful synthesis of polymeric photocatalytic membranes still faces certain challenges that demand further research, e.g., (i) reduced photocatalytic activity, (ii) photocatalyst stability, and (iii) membrane aging, to achieve technological competitiveness with respect to suspended photocatalytic systems. The novelty of this review is to go a step further to preceding literature by first, critically analyzing the...

Research paper thumbnail of Novel Hollow Fiber Membranes of PCL and PCL/Graphene as Scaffolds with Potential to Develop in vitro Blood-brain Barrier Models

There is a huge interest in developing novel hollow fiber (HF) membranes able to modulate neural ... more There is a huge interest in developing novel hollow fiber (HF) membranes able to modulate neural differentiation to produce in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models for biomedical and pharmaceutical research, due to the low cell-inductive properties of the polymer HFs used in current BBB models. In this work, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and composite PCL/graphene (PCL/G) HF membranes were prepared by phase inversion and were characterized in terms of mechanical, electrical, morphological, chemical, and mass transport properties. The presence of graphene in PCL/G membranes enlarged the pore size and the water flux and presented significantly higher electrical conductivity than PCL HFs. Biocompatibility assay showed that PCL/G HFs significantly increased C6 cells adhesion and differentiation towards astrocytes, may be attributed to their higher electrical conductivity in comparison to PCL HFs. On the other hand, PCL/G membranes produced a cytotoxic effect on the endothelial cell line ...

Research paper thumbnail of Hydrolytic Degradation and Mechanical Stability of Poly(ε-Caprolactone)/Reduced Graphene Oxide Membranes as Scaffolds for In Vitro Neural Tissue Regeneration

Membranes, 2018

The present work studies the functional behavior of novel poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) membranes fu... more The present work studies the functional behavior of novel poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) membranes functionalized with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanoplatelets under simulated in vitro culture conditions (phosphate buffer solution (PBS) at 37 °C) during 1 year, in order to elucidate their applicability as scaffolds for in vitro neural regeneration. The morphological, chemical, and DSC results demonstrated that high internal porosity of the membranes facilitated water permeation and procured an accelerated hydrolytic degradation throughout the bulk pathway. Therefore, similar molecular weight reduction, from 80 kDa to 33 kDa for the control PCL, and to 27 kDa for PCL/rGO membranes, at the end of the study, was observed. After 1 year of hydrolytic degradation, though monomers coming from the hydrolytic cleavage of PCL diffused towards the PBS medium, the pH was barely affected, and the rGO nanoplatelets mainly remained in the membranes which envisaged low cytotoxic effect. On the other ...

Research paper thumbnail of Performance of TiO2-Based Tubular Membranes in the Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Compounds

Membranes

This work presents the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water with TiO2 and Ti... more This work presents the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in water with TiO2 and TiO2/Ag membranes prepared by immobilising photocatalysts on ceramic porous tubular supports. The permeation capacity of TiO2 and TiO2/Ag membranes was checked before the photocatalytic application, showing high water fluxes (≈758 and 690 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, respectively) and <2% rejection against the model pollutants sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS) and dichloroacetic acid (DCA). When the membranes were submerged in the aqueous solutions and irradiated with UV-A LEDs, the photocatalytic performance factors for the degradation of DCA were similar to those obtained with suspended TiO2 particles (1.1-fold and 1.2-fold increase, respectively). However, when the aqueous solution permeated through the pores of the photocatalytic membrane, the performance factors and kinetics were two-fold higher than for the submerged membranes, mostly due to the enhanced contact between the pollutants and...

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 5 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 5: Figure S5. (A) Three-dimensional reconstruction of confocal microscope images ... more Additional file 5: Figure S5. (A) Three-dimensional reconstruction of confocal microscope images of a MCF7 cellular islet formed after growth over PAN/G10 for 5 days and co-stained with Phalloidin-FITC and DAPI. (B) Image was rotated 90º from the previous (top to bottom) to observe the vertical growth of the islet. (C) Gallery of the images used for 3D-reconstruction in (A). Note that all cross-sectional views of the islet show compact cellular aggregation. Scale bar: 30 µm.

Research paper thumbnail of On the quest of reliable 3D dynamic in vitro blood-brain barrier models using polymer hollow fiber membranes: Pitfalls, progress, and future perspectives

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

With the increasing concern of neurodegenerative diseases, the development of new therapies and e... more With the increasing concern of neurodegenerative diseases, the development of new therapies and effective pharmaceuticals targeted to central nervous system (CNS) illnesses is crucial for ensuring social and economic sustainability in an ageing world. Unfortunately, many promising treatments at the initial stages of the pharmaceutical development process, that is at the in vitro screening stages, do not finally show the expected results at the clinical level due to their inability to cross the human blood-brain barrier (BBB), highlighting the inefficiency of in vitro BBB models to recapitulate the real functionality of the human BBB. In the last decades research has focused on the development of in vitro BBB models from basic 2D monolayer cultures to 3D cell co-cultures employing different system configurations. Particularly, the use of polymeric hollow fiber membranes (HFs) as scaffolds plays a key role in perfusing 3D dynamic in vitro BBB (DIV-BBB) models. Their incorporation into...

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of the properties of different graphene-based nanomaterials dispersed in polycaprolactone membranes on astrocytic differentiation

Scientific Reports

Composites of polymer and graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) combine easy processing onto porous... more Composites of polymer and graphene-based nanomaterials (GBNs) combine easy processing onto porous 3D membrane geometries due to the polymer and cellular differentiation stimuli due to GBNs fillers. Aiming to step forward to the clinical application of polymer/GBNs composites, this study performs a systematic and detailed comparative analysis of the influence of the properties of four different GBNs: (i) graphene oxide obtained from graphite chemically processes (GO); (ii) reduced graphene oxide (rGO); (iii) multilayered graphene produced by mechanical exfoliation method (Gmec); and (iv) low-oxidized graphene via anodic exfoliation (Ganodic); dispersed in polycaprolactone (PCL) porous membranes to induce astrocytic differentiation. PCL/GBN flat membranes were fabricated by phase inversion technique and broadly characterized in morphology and topography, chemical structure, hydrophilicity, protein adsorption, and electrical properties. Cellular assays with rat C6 glioma cells, as mode...

Research paper thumbnail of TiO2–Zeolite Metal Composites for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants in Water

Catalysts

Immobilization of photocatalysts in porous materials is an approach to significantly minimize the... more Immobilization of photocatalysts in porous materials is an approach to significantly minimize the hazards of manipulation and recovery of nanoparticles. Inorganic materials, such as zeolites, are proposed as promising materials for photocatalyst immobilization mainly due to their photochemical stability. In this work, a green synthesis method is proposed to combine TiO2-based photocatalysts with commercial ZY zeolite. Moreover, a preliminary analysis of their performance as photocatalysts for the abatement of organic pollutants in waters was performed. Our results show that the physical mixture of TiO2 and zeolite maintains photocatalytic activity. Meanwhile, composites fabricated by doping TiO2–zeolite Y materials with silver and palladium nanoparticles do not contribute to improving the photocatalytic activity beyond that of TiO2.

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 2 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 2: Figure S2. (A) Dot plot comparing the ICN/IG ratio from Raman spectra of batch... more Additional file 2: Figure S2. (A) Dot plot comparing the ICN/IG ratio from Raman spectra of batch 1 (uneven G, yellow dots) and batch 2 (even G, green dots) PAN/G10 membranes after a surface mapping of 0.144 x 0.088 mm, where a minimum of 30 points were analyzed. Line on each dot plot represents the mean. (B, D) Optical images of the surface of batch 1 PAN/G10 membrane (uneven G, B) and batch 2 (even G, D). (C, E) Confocal images of MCF7 cells after 2 days of culture on PAN/G10 membranes of batch 1 (uneven G, C) and batch 2 (even G, E). ***: p

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 4 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 4: Figure S4. (A–H) Confocal microscopy images of Phalloidin-FITC stained SH-SY5Y... more Additional file 4: Figure S4. (A–H) Confocal microscopy images of Phalloidin-FITC stained SH-SY5Y (A, B), U87 (C–D), C6 (E, F) and HeLa (G, H) cell lines derived from different cancer types (neuroblastoma, glioblastoma, glioma and cervix carcinoma) with a well-known migratory capacity were grown for 24–48 h, except for SH-SY5Y (5 days), on glass coverslips or PAN/G10 as indicated. (I–L) SV40 and hTERT immortalized non-tumoral MEFs and ASC52 cell cultures were also analyzed by confocal microscopy. Note in J and L that the morphology of non-carcinogenic cells is not affected by the growth over PAN/G10 scaffolds. Scale bar: 30µ m (A, B), 20 µm (G, H), 10 µm (C–F and I–L).

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 1 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 1: Figure S1. (A) Culture medium contact angle average values of the indicated PA... more Additional file 1: Figure S1. (A) Culture medium contact angle average values of the indicated PAN/G membranes. (B, C) Plots of the relative dielectric permittivity (B) and electric conductivity (C) of the PAN/G2; PAN/G10 and PAN/G15 membranes measured by means of electrical impedance between 103 and 104 Hz of applied frequency.

Research paper thumbnail of Evidences of the Effect of GO and rGO in PCL Membranes on the Differentiation and Maturation of Human Neural Progenitor Cells

Macromolecular Bioscience, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Life cycle assessment of technologies for partial dealcoholisation of wines

Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2015

Wine is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in the world. This beverage, in moderation, is c... more Wine is one of the most popular alcoholic drinks in the world. This beverage, in moderation, is considered to be heart healthy, particularly the red variety. However, civil concerns and some health reasons have greatly increased the consumer demand for dealcoholised wines. Several techniques for producing low-and reduced-strength alcoholic beverages have been developed over the last several years. The most common treatments are spinning cone column (SCC) and membrane technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO) or ultrafiltration (UF). An innovative technology, called evaporative pertraction (EP) has shown promising results for the partial dealcoholisation of wine. This technology has some drawbacks and some benefits such as low energy demand. Therefore, a life cycle perspective is required to evaluate technology along with its environmental impacts. This work assesses and compares the environmental performance of EP, SCC and RO fusing a life cycle assessment methodology based on the use of two variables: natural resources sustainability (NRS) and environmental burdens sustainability (EBS). For the technologies, RO presented a higher energy consumption and lower materials and water demands than did EP, whereas the latter displayed better results in all of the air categories except for human health effects (HHE) and in three of the five water categories. The highest consumption of natural resources (NR) and the greatest environmental burdens (EB) in all of the categories were given by the SCC technology. Nevertheless, this situation was reversed when the wastewater from the SCC process, with its high ethanol content, was energy valorised.

Research paper thumbnail of 383401 Simultaneous CO2 Valorization and DME Production Using a Packed-Bed Mem-Brane Reactor with in Situ Water Removal

Abstracts: * Zarca et al_AIChE meeting 2014.pdf (446.3KB) - Uploading Abstracts

Research paper thumbnail of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Films with Favourable Properties for Neural Cell Growth

Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 2015

The regeneration of brain tissue is one of the major challenges in regenerative medicine due to t... more The regeneration of brain tissue is one of the major challenges in regenerative medicine due to the lack of viable grafts to support the re-growth of functional tissue after a traumatic injury. The development of biocompatible and biodegradable structures with appropriate morphology for the interaction with neural tissue is required. The objective pursued in this work is to develop a biodegradable 2D scaffold structure for neural tissue engineering. Poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) was the selected material due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability in the long term. PCL (15%w/w) was dissolved in N-methylpyrrolidone and the film was fabricated by phase inversion casting technique employing ethanol and isopropanol as coagulation baths. The physical structure, morphology and topography of the flat scaffolds were characterized using different techniques. The two different scaffolds presented homogeneous structure with high porosity (higher than 85%), contact angles higher than 90(o), high roughness (Ra&gt; 0.6 μm) and superficial pore sizes of 0.7 and 1.7 μm, respectively. Permeance tests showed high water permeabilities (~350-590 mL m(-1) bar(-1) h(-1)) indicative of promising nutrients supply to the cells. Finally, in vitro human glioblastoma cells cultures after 48 hours showed good cell attachment, proliferation and penetration in the scaffolds. Detailed evaluation of the interaction between the surface morphology and the properties of the scaffolds with the cell response has been done. Thus, the PCL films herein fabricated show promising results as scaffolds for neural tissue regeneration.

Research paper thumbnail of Coaxial Synthesis of PEI-Based Nanocarriers of Encapsulated RNA-Therapeutics to Specifically Target Muscle Cells

Biomolecules

In this work, we performed a methodological comparative analysis to synthesize polyethyleneimine ... more In this work, we performed a methodological comparative analysis to synthesize polyethyleneimine (PEI) nanoparticles using (i) conventional nanoprecipitation (NP), (ii) electrospraying (ES), and (iii) coaxial electrospraying (CA). The nanoparticles transported antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), either encapsulated (CA nanocomplexes) or electrostatically bound externally (NP and ES nanocomplexes). After synthesis, the PEI/ASO nanoconjugates were functionalized with a muscle-specific RNA aptamer. Using this combinatorial formulation methodology, we obtained nanocomplexes that were further used as nanocarriers for the delivery of RNA therapeutics (ASO), specifically into muscle cells. In particular, we performed a detailed confocal microscopy-based comparative study to analyze the overall transfection efficiency, the cell-to-cell homogeneity, and the mean fluorescence intensity per cell of micron-sized domains enriched with the nanocomplexes. Furthermore, using high-magnification elect...

Research paper thumbnail of Additional file 9 of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Additional file 9. Additional experimental procedures.

Research paper thumbnail of Non-homogeneous dispersion of graphene in polyacrylonitrile substrates induces a migrastatic response and epithelial-like differentiation in MCF7 breast cancer cells

Cancer Nanotechnology, 2022

Background Recent advances from studies of graphene and graphene-based derivatives have highlight... more Background Recent advances from studies of graphene and graphene-based derivatives have highlighted the great potential of these nanomaterials as migrastatic agents with the ability to modulate tumor microenvironments. Nevertheless, the administration of graphene nanomaterials in suspensions in vivo is controversial. As an alternative approach, herein, we report the immobilization of high concentrations of graphene nanoplatelets in polyacrylonitrile film substrates (named PAN/G10) and evaluate their potential use as migrastatic agents on cancer cells. Results Breast cancer MCF7 cells cultured on PAN/G10 substrates presented features resembling mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition, e.g., (i) inhibition of migratory activity; (ii) activation of the expression of E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18, ZO-1 and EpCAM, four key molecular markers of epithelial differentiation; (iii) formation of adherens junctions with clustering and adhesion of cancer cells in aggregates or islets, and (iv) reorgan...

Research paper thumbnail of Thermodynamic Modeling and Validation of the Temperature Influence in Ternary Phase Polymer Systems

Polymers, 2021

The effect of the temperature, as a process variable in the fabrication of polymeric membranes by... more The effect of the temperature, as a process variable in the fabrication of polymeric membranes by the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique, has been scarcely studied. In the present work, we studied the influence of temperature, working at 293, 313 and 333 K, on the experimental binodal curves of four ternary systems composed of PVDF and PES as the polymers, DMAc and NMP as the solvents and water as the non-solvent. The increase of the temperature caused an increase on the solubility gap of the ternary system, as expected. The shift of the binodal curve with the temperature was more evident in PVDF systems than in PES systems indicating the influence of the rubbery or glassy state of the polymer on the thermodynamics of phase separation. As a novelty, the present work has introduced the temperature influence on the Flory–Huggins model to fit the experimental cloud points. Binary interaction parameters were calculated as a function of the temperature: (i) non-solvent...

Research paper thumbnail of Membrane and Osmotic Distillation Processes

Research paper thumbnail of Critical Issues and Guidelines to Improve the Performance of Photocatalytic Polymeric Membranes

Catalysts, 2020

Photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMR), with immobilized photocatalysts, play an important role i... more Photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMR), with immobilized photocatalysts, play an important role in process intensification strategies; this approach offers a simple solution to the typical catalyst recovery problem of photocatalytic processes and, by simultaneous filtration and photocatalysis of the aqueous streams, facilitates clean water production in a single unit. The synthesis of polymer photocatalytic membranes has been widely explored, while studies focused on ceramic photocatalytic membranes represent a minority. However, previous reports have identified that the successful synthesis of polymeric photocatalytic membranes still faces certain challenges that demand further research, e.g., (i) reduced photocatalytic activity, (ii) photocatalyst stability, and (iii) membrane aging, to achieve technological competitiveness with respect to suspended photocatalytic systems. The novelty of this review is to go a step further to preceding literature by first, critically analyzing the...

Research paper thumbnail of Novel Hollow Fiber Membranes of PCL and PCL/Graphene as Scaffolds with Potential to Develop in vitro Blood-brain Barrier Models

There is a huge interest in developing novel hollow fiber (HF) membranes able to modulate neural ... more There is a huge interest in developing novel hollow fiber (HF) membranes able to modulate neural differentiation to produce in vitro blood-brain barrier (BBB) models for biomedical and pharmaceutical research, due to the low cell-inductive properties of the polymer HFs used in current BBB models. In this work, poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and composite PCL/graphene (PCL/G) HF membranes were prepared by phase inversion and were characterized in terms of mechanical, electrical, morphological, chemical, and mass transport properties. The presence of graphene in PCL/G membranes enlarged the pore size and the water flux and presented significantly higher electrical conductivity than PCL HFs. Biocompatibility assay showed that PCL/G HFs significantly increased C6 cells adhesion and differentiation towards astrocytes, may be attributed to their higher electrical conductivity in comparison to PCL HFs. On the other hand, PCL/G membranes produced a cytotoxic effect on the endothelial cell line ...

Research paper thumbnail of Hydrolytic Degradation and Mechanical Stability of Poly(ε-Caprolactone)/Reduced Graphene Oxide Membranes as Scaffolds for In Vitro Neural Tissue Regeneration

Membranes, 2018

The present work studies the functional behavior of novel poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) membranes fu... more The present work studies the functional behavior of novel poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) membranes functionalized with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanoplatelets under simulated in vitro culture conditions (phosphate buffer solution (PBS) at 37 °C) during 1 year, in order to elucidate their applicability as scaffolds for in vitro neural regeneration. The morphological, chemical, and DSC results demonstrated that high internal porosity of the membranes facilitated water permeation and procured an accelerated hydrolytic degradation throughout the bulk pathway. Therefore, similar molecular weight reduction, from 80 kDa to 33 kDa for the control PCL, and to 27 kDa for PCL/rGO membranes, at the end of the study, was observed. After 1 year of hydrolytic degradation, though monomers coming from the hydrolytic cleavage of PCL diffused towards the PBS medium, the pH was barely affected, and the rGO nanoplatelets mainly remained in the membranes which envisaged low cytotoxic effect. On the other ...