Insights from the New Ideas Program

by Paul Schweng:

by Paul Schweng:

We wanted to develop a new material for atmospheric water harvesting, combining Christoph's expertise in organic synthesis and my expertise in material characterisation and implementation. Our initial timeline turned out to be almost perfect, and through our combined expertise we were able to synthesise a material that outperforms conventional organic polymers currently described in the literature. However, we have also found that this material changes colour as a function of water loading, which is something we did not expect and which I am currently investigating in more detail - outside the timeframe of our project. So things can definitely turn out differently than planned and others applying for funding should be aware of this. In our case, however, it is actually something exciting and we hope to publish our findings once we get to the bottom of this phenomenon.

DoSChem awarded the joint expertise of Paul Schweng (Materials Chemistry, Woodward group) & Christoph Bendl (Functional Materials and Catalysis, Hultzsch group) on 15.01.2024. 

Their Proposal: read

by Claudia Iriarte Mesa and Janice Bergen

by Claudia Iriarte Mesa and Janice Bergen

Our New Ideas project titled “Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of Coenzyme Q10 delivered from liposome coated-mesoporous silica: novel hybrid nanoformulations towards the treatment of ulcerative colitis” has grown significantly over the past months, and we have made important progress in developing liposome-based formulations. We have combined our expertise in this fascinating study that allowed us to establish new collaborations with Dr. Gianluca Bello from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Vienna. In terms of synthesis and functionalization steps, as well as release studies, we successfully conducted the planned experiments and performed advanced characterizations of the hybrid materials. This has allowed us to explore the promising potential of liposome-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles as drug carriers—specifically for the oral delivery of coenzyme Q10—with enhanced drug solubility, bioavailability, and therapeutic activity. We look forward to completing the cell studies to validate the potential application of our formulations in treating chronic gut inflammation and to achieve joint publication.

DoSChem awards the joint expertise Claudia Iriarte Mesa  (Department of Functional Materials and Catalysis; Kleitz group) & Janice Bergen  (Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Giorgia Del Favero group) on 01.10.2023.

Their proposal: read