i3S team joins acceleration program

The project developed by the GrapHEMA team, made up of researchers from the Bioengineered Surfaces group, was recently selected to join the HiTech One program, an initiative by HiSeedTech that aims to help researchers develop their work in the area of science and technology. The team has developed innovative technology that could revolutionize the performance of devices for contact with blood.

With this project, the GraphTEAM team, made up of researchers Andreia Pereira, Duarte Moura, Helena Ferreira, Inês Gonçalves, and Patrícia Henriques, intends to solve the two main complications associated with those devices: the occurrence of thrombosis and infection.

In practice, this technology, developed within the scope of Andreia Pereira's PhD project “consists of making a very soft material, already approved by the FDA and applied in the production of contact lenses, into a material resistant enough to be applied as a contact device with blood - as is the case with a synthetic blood vessel or catheter. These properties are achieved through the incorporation of graphene derivatives, the strongest material in the world”, explain the researchers.

The biomaterial resulting from this process, which the researchers dubbed GrapHEMA, is very versatile - it can be produced in several ways while maintaining its flexibility - it has great durability and a low cost of production and has anti-adhesive properties which allows it to resist formation blood clots and contamination by microbial agents.

According to the team members, participation in the HiTechOne Program will allow, in addition to a strong training in entrepreneurship, the development of the product’s value proposition, constituting “an unmissable opportunity to make the transfer of GrapHEMA to the market a reality”.

The implementation of this technology, already submitted for international patent in collaboration with Prof. Fernão Magalhães, from LEPABE / FEUP, will have an impact on various diseases and medical procedures, such as, for example, on coronary and peripheral arterial diseases and on patients requiring hemodialysis or systemic drug administration.

When selected to join the HiTech One program, the teams from the 11 award-winning projects will be able to develop and validate their proposal for a product or service and develop skills to commercialize the technologies developed.