Team:TUST China/HP/Gold Integrated
Intergrated And Gold
Expert consultation
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From the very beginning we have interviewed an expert, Prof. Shiru Jia who specializes in microbial fermentation,for his professional viewpoints and deep understanding about BC.
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Q：Why is the application of BC in China rare? The reason why the BC products are low-value.
A: BC has high water retention, high mechanical strength and outstanding biocompatibility. This means BC can be used in medical products and cosmetics. However, these types of products fail to widely appear on the market because of its cost. Producing BC medical products and beauty products is very strictly controlled, which requires professional equipment and workers, so it is costly. In contrast, BC food products such as coconut production is very simple and inexpensive. That is why BC mainly produced into some low-value products such as food. Therefore, if you can optimize the pathway of Acetobacter xylinus to increase BC production, you may reduce the cost of BC products in the future. -
Q: What is the focus of future research on BC materials?
A:BC composites can make up for the deficiency of natural BC, but there are still problems of high producing cost, low performance and low level of industrialization. To solve these problems, the future research focuses on:- Obtaining stable and high yield strains through efficient genetic engineering.
- Exploring the new BC industrial producing methods, including the design of efficient and inexpensive biofilm production device.
- Use BC structure of light-based easy to combine and synthetic biology, improve product value and expand the scope of product applications.
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Q: What is the current situation in BC production?
A: BC production is slow, so the fermentation cycle is very long. In addition, the producing process requires sterile conditions. Thus, the production requires a lot of labor cost and capital investment. Therefore, the study now focus on accelerating the speed of fermentation so that BC could film quickly.
Consulting BC Company
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We inquired about LEE'S PHARM and collected data related on Hemicelluose Dressing-- Veloderm. Owing to its unique nano-scale three-dimensional network structure, BC has a high-water retention, high mechanical strength, and outstanding biocompatibility, which enable it to serve as a natural scaffold material for the regeneration of a wide variety of tissues. For most wound-repairing materials, important characteristics are their ability to lock exudate during the dressing process, as well as their removal from wound surface after recovery. BC’s potential lies in the unique properties (such as the high mechanical strength) of the never-dried BC membrane; on the other hand, its high liquid absorbency, biocompatibility and hygienic nature perfectly cater to the specific demands for skin tissue repairing. Thus, considering the properties of BC as well as its clinical performance, the commercialization of BC for wound caring is very promising.
Outreach
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Shandong Nameide Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
As we near the end of the project, we would like to know the BC factory's view of our work and the production of some BC products. So we visited Shandong Nameide Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Their product is named Nanuomei - a bacterial cellulite wound dressing.
The company's R & D manager received us and took us to visit the production workshop. She introduced us their mode of producing, which is quit different from the mode of producing BC in our laboratory. For example, in the lab we used the conical flask to produce BC. however, BC was produced in a huge metal tray in the factory.
Besides, We introduced our iGEM project to her and asked her what she thought about it. She thought our work was very meaningful and has been achieved increasing BC production, but she had doubts about whether it is suitable for the factory because the production methods and the production environment is totally different.
We plan to test the results of our iGEM project in the factory in the future. And we hope that our project can increase the production of BC not only in the lab but also in the factory. This trip we have gained a lot and we are more confident that our project is useful and meaningful.
Investigation of a new mask material
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Our questionnaire shows that most people use the mask 1-3 times a week, many of whom are young people. This proves that the mask is a very promising commodity, the development of new mask material also has a good prospect. In addition, 70 percent of people think that moisturizing is the most important effect for a mask , which also proved that BC to be a mask with superiority.
