Membrane for prOtein Separation with designed Architecture of bioInterface at nanosCale – MOSAIC-3D

This project involves a collaboration between the R&D Center for Membrane Technology in Taiwan and the Laboratoire de Génie Chimique in Toulouse (France). It aims at designing a new process for the ultra purification of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), a very promising drug which has to be extracted from blood and purified. Chromatography is the current process but its discontinuous mode and its low yield and productivity hampers its use on a large scale. We want to demonstrate that membrane processes can be a very efficient alternative to the existing process and can be scaled-up to meet the growing needs diabetes wound healing. For this we will combine the competences of two research groups, who have recently proved their ability to efficiently cooperate in the field of designing artificial membrane biocompatibility and improvement of resistance to organic and bio-fouling. In this project, we shall train 3 PhD students and a number of Master students. They will improve their knowledge in biochemistry, polymer chemistry, analytical chemistry, material science, chemical engineering, process design and will have a chance to experience the enriching environment of an international research team, some of them being invited to visit the partner’s labs for periods up to 3 months during the project.
The scientific challenges to be addressed are:

i) Design a membrane surface at the nanoscale to facilitate the reversible adhesion of unactivated platelets: The challenge is to customize the surface of the membranes so as to selectively adhere and sharply detach platelets, but resist the non-specific adsorption of other blood components.

ii) Build a 3D porous substructure which provides the preferential transmission of PDGF: The challenge is to design this substructure based on a totally new theoretical model for transport phenomena through porous media.

iii) Analyse membrane filtration system and separation efficiency: The challenge is to characterize the produced membranes in microfluidic devices with a high throughput screening of data analysis in membrane surface functions and PDGF purification efficiency.

iv) Optimize membrane operation parameters: The challenge is to optimize the operating conditions tuned to the membrane characteristics, on a bench-scale filtration equipment. Here, the major barrier is to control the flow of platelets approaching the membrane surface in such a way that it can adhere the membrane surface, while avoiding the formation of non-specific protein adsorption and controlling on demand the transmission of growth factors. This requires that the fluid dynamics should be controlled all over the membrane surface and guides the rational design of the flow channel geometry and the implementation of blood plasma in filtration devices.

v) Validate membrane filtration process: The challenge is to design, construct, and operate the membrane filtration prototype of a device to validate the operations defined in the items here above. The actual bio-activity of the platelet-derived growth factors on diabetes wound healing will have to be tested and checked, so as to validate the whole design process.

An International Workshop will be organised by the end of this 48 months project so as to share our results and new findings with the fast growing community of scientists working on biomedical applications of artificial membranes.