Protein adsorption on nanocellulose

Abstract

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on earth. With the development of nanotechnology in the past decades, cellulose has also been used to create nanomaterials referred to as nanocellulose. It has many interesting qualities including good mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and modifiable surface chemistry. This has given rise to research on different applications of nanocellulose. Many of these applications are related to biomedicine, where proteins are a key component. This thesis examines current literature on the interactions between proteins and nanocellulose materials and their impact on possible applications of these materials. Protein adsorption is influenced by several different factors related to protein characteristics, nanocellulose structure and the environment of application. These materials can have various applications, such as enhancing the accuracy of biomedical sensors by preventing protein fouling, functioning as scaffolds for tissue engineering or binding viruses surface proteins preventing them from infecting cells.