Macroporous Chitin and Chitosan Membranes for Affinity Separation of Biomolecules

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Abstract Proposal No: 9711389 Proposal Type: Investigator Inititated Principal Investigator: Eli Ruckenstein Affiliation: State University of New York at Buffalo This grant is awarded through the Separations and Purification Program sub-element of the Interfacial, Transport and Separations Program of the Chemical and Transport Systems Division. The principal investigator is Dr. Eli Ruckenstein of the State University of New York at Buffalo. The objective of the research is to develop affinity membranes of controlled porosity using chitin and chitosan, which are biocompatible materials. The approach followed to generate porosity takes advantage of the fact that the polymer and a porogen have widely different solubility characteristics as a function of solution pH. The solubility difference is used to first cast the membrane at acid pH values and then remove the porogen at basic pH values. After forming the membrane, the objectives of the research are to characterize the application potential of the membranes, particularly to affinity separations. The research could lead to the preparation of inexpensive, biocompatible chitin/chitosan membranes have a variety of applications for in vivo therapies, tissue culture, wound healing, and affinity separations.