A professor of the Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Calicut, (NIT-C), Lisa Sreejith, has secured a patent for an invention of preparing artificial cartilage from crab and shrimp shells for biomedical applications in human beings.
“This engineered cartilage from hydrogels for biomedical implantation is stable under different chemical environment. It is bio-compatible and non-cytotoxic,” Dr. Lisa Sreejith told The Hindu on Monday.
She said her primary focus was on waste management so as to tackle the odour from dumped shells in coastal areas and neighbouring areas
“So an eco-friendly and cost-effective method of extracting nano-chitin from the waste shells and incorporating the same in PVA/PEG matrix,” she said.
Dr. Sreejith said her associate, a PhD scholar, P. Sudheesh, succeeded in extracting the product for biomedical applications. “This material could replace damaged nose and ear. As of now, these products are imported and hence make the surgery costly,” she said.
About six-to-eight million tonnes of waste crab, shrimp and lobster shells are produced globally every year. This is about 1.5 million tonnes in South-East Asia. However, the meat present in a crab is only 40% of the mass,” she said.
Dr. Sreejith said that commercialisation of the product had been planned through the Technology Business Incubator of the NIT-C in near future.
Plastic waste
Significantly, she has also secured a patent for an eco-friendly method for total conversion of plastic waste to power generation three years ago. A prototype has already been made. About 90% of conversion is possible with the technology being implemented under the Swachhata Action Plan of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
