The Formulation of Recombinant Collagen Materials as Coatings in Medical Devices

背景：ProColl是一家牛和重组胶原蛋白的供应商，用于医疗设备，细胞培养，组织工程，制药和化妆品。该公司成立于2018年，是斯旺西大学（Swansea University）的分拆公司，旨在将具有卓越品质和纯度的胶原蛋白规模化生产推向市场。该公司随后开发了生产重组胶原蛋白的技术，以满足市场对非动物胶原蛋白的需求，这种胶原蛋白具有更强的生物相容性，道德上更强，并消除了疾病在物种间传播的风险。胶原蛋白是人体内最丰富的蛋白质，在所有器官和组织的维护和修复中起着核心作用。胶原蛋白在组织的细胞外基质中具有固定和容纳细胞的结构作用。因此，它是工业上最重要的蛋白质之一，在医药、化妆品和食品中作为功能、结构材料应用。在医学和细胞研究中，胶原蛋白主要用作凝胶或涂层；胶原蛋白被用来包裹细胞培养材料，以使细胞粘附和随后的发育。通过与斯旺西大学的合作，ProColl目前正在生产重组人类I型胶原蛋白分子，并希望将其扩展到其他胶原蛋白类型。该项目的研究将以新型重组胶原蛋白材料和新型胶原蛋白配方的形式开发先进材料，这些材料将被优化用于表面涂层和细胞培养、组织工程和伤口愈合中的应用。重组胶原蛋白将通过可持续的发酵过程生产，从而消除对牛源的需求及其对环境的伴随影响。此外，将研究发酵的替代原料，以进一步提高可持续性。胶原蛋白表面将使用先进的技术，包括原子力显微镜、扫描电子显微镜、动态和疲劳测试系统以及细胞培养，在涂层膜形态、生物相容性和机械弹性方面进行表征。该项目将研究不同的涂层方法，如逐层、冻干、喷涂、铸造和静电纺丝，以控制胶原蛋白涂层的形态和功能。项目目标：该项目的成果将是创造新的和改进的生产重组胶原蛋白的工艺。一系列新的表面涂层将被开发出来，这些涂层将被优化用于研究和医学领域。实现这些结果所需的研究将为胶原蛋白材料提供全面和新颖的见解，这是学术界感兴趣的，并将发表。这项研究也将在重要的国际会议上传播。ProColl将使新工艺和产品商业化，为威尔士和英国经济创造工业影响和利益。

Background:ProColl is a supplier of bovine and recombinant collagen for application within medical devices, cell culture, tissue engineering, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. The company was founded as a spin out from Swansea University in 2018 to bring to market the improved scale production of collagen with exceptional quality and purity. The company then developed techniques to produce recombinant collagen to answer the market need for animal free collagen that is more biocompatible, ethically robust and removes the risk of interspecies transfer of disease. Collagen is the most abundant protein within the human body and plays a central role in the maintenance and repair of all organs and tissues. Collagen has a structural role as the glue that anchors and houses cells within the extracellular matrix of tissues. Thus, it is one of the most industrially important proteins with applications as a functional, structural material in medicine, cosmetics, and food. Within medicine and cell research collagen is predominantly used as a gel or a coating; the collagen is used to coat cell culture materials to allow adhesion and subsequent development of the cells. Through collaboration with Swansea University, ProColl currently produce recombinant human Type I collagen molecules with the view to expand this to other collagen types.The research of the project will develop advanced materials in the form of new recombinant collagen materials and novel collagen formulations that are optimised for the coating of surfaces and application within cell culture, tissue engineering and wound healing. The recombinant collagen will be produced through fermentation in a sustainable process that removes the need for bovine sources and their accompanying impact on the environment. In addition, alternative raw materials for the fermentation will be investigated to further improve sustainability. The collagen surfaces will be characterised in terms of coating film morphology, biocompatibility and mechanical resilience using advanced techniques including atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic and fatigue testing systems, and cell culture. The project will examine different coating methods such as layer by layer, lyophilisation, spray coating, casting and electrospinning to control the morphology and functionality of the collagen coatings. Project Aims:The outcomes of the project will be the creation of new and improved processes for the manufacture of recombinant collagen. A range of novel surface coatings will be developed that are optimised for application within research and medicine. The research needed to achieve these outcomes will provide comprehensive and novel insights into collagen materials which is of interest to the academic community and will be published. The research will also be disseminated at key international conferences. ProColl will commercialise the new processes and products creating industrial impact and benefit to Welsh and UK economies.