Modification of membranes surfaces for blood protein separation

Jayakumar, Sharath
Causserand, Christel (dir.)

Universidad de Zaragoza, CIEN, 2021

Máster Universitario Erasmus Mundus en Ingeniería de Membranas

Resumen: The main idea behind this project is to separate platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) from platelets which has a promising role to play for medical applications such as treating of diabetic ulcers and chemotherapy. The present techniques used to separate PDGF consumes large amount of energy, and the yield is also poor. Hence an alternate method of separating PDGF from platelets is by membrane separation. The main objective of this project is to modify the membrane surface with a block copolymer that can selectively capture platelets by avoiding unwanted interactions with other blood components. The present study will focus on this first step of coating the membrane and evaluation of unwanted adsorption of blood proteins. Various optimization conditions like coating time, concentration of copolymer, chain length and operating process were varied, and the coating was analyzed using FTIR mapping. Coating time of 2 hours and the copolymer concentration of 5 mg/mL following the immersion, washing, drying (IWD) process were the optimum conditions. Filtration was done over the coated membranes and the permeability was found to decrease with increase in size of the copolymer. Then filtration was done with protein solution and the concentration of protein in retentate and permeate was calculated followed by retention %. FTIR mapping was done on filtration membrane to check if there was removal of coating from the membrane surface. From the mapping it was clear that the coating was present on the membrane surface even after filtration. For future studies, it is recommended to use other blood proteins like globulin and fibrinogen on the adhesion with the copolymer. Other characterization tools like SEM and AFM can be used to analyze the morphology and surface roughness of the coated membrane, respectively.

Tipo de Trabajo Académico: Trabajo Fin de Master