Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Sergio Madrigal-Carballo

Jess Dreher Reed

Christian Gerald Krueger

Emilia Alfaro-Viquez

Sundaram Gunasekaran

Michael Allen Polewski

Hilary Urena Saborio

Composite nanofibers comprising polymers and tannins, methods of making same, and methods of use. The nanofibers include a polymer, such as a synthetic polymer, and a tannin. The tannin can include condensed tannins (proanthocyanidins) and/or hydrolyzable tannins. The nanofibers exhibit a number of structural and functional characteristics, such as enhanced swelling in aqueous liquid, enhanced antibacterial activity, enhanced bacterial adsorption, enhanced fibroblast adhesion, enhanced fibroblast proliferation, and enhanced surface coating of silver nanoparticles, among others. The nanofibers can be made by electrospinning a solvent mixture comprising the synthetic polymer and the tannin in a solvent. The nanofibers can be used in methods of isolating cells, methods of filtration, and methods of detecting cells, among others.

Tannin composite fibers

Methods of purifying mucin, purified mucin, and products comprising the purified mucin. The methods include combining a mucin-containing substance with water and one or more purification agents to form a purification mixture, incubating the purification mixture for a time sufficient to form a mucin precipitate in a liquid phase, and separating the mucin precipitate from the liquid phase. The purification agents include one or more of a surfactant, a chelating agent, and a protic solvent. The mucin purified from the methods can be used alone or in combination with a biopolymer such as a tannin and chitosan and can be used to generate materials in the form of a gel, a foam, a film, or a powder.

Methods of purifying Mucin

The invention provides a composition comprising a matrix of chitosan and a tannin wherein the chitosan is electrostatically bonded to the tannin to form a chitosan-tannin composite material. The chitosan can be partially or fully deacetylated, and the tannin can be a monomeric or an oligomeric proanthocyanidin or a hydrolysable tannin. The chitosan-tannin composite material can be a nanoparticle, a hydrogel film, a bio-foam, or a biogel, or the chitosan-tannin composite material can coat a liposome. The composite materials can be used for drug delivery, for antibacterial and/or antifungal applications, for tissue engineering applications, for wound healing applications, or they can be used as adjuvants for vaccination, including oral vaccinations. The invention also provides methods of preparing the composite materials and their various forms.

Growing community of inventors

Madison, WI, United States of America

Sergio Madrigal-Carballo