Abstract

This keynote addresses green materials as the outcome of an integrated process in which forest based bioinputs are progressively transformed into industrially viable materials through successive stages of technological maturity. Drawing on the experience of Instituto Mawé in the Brazilian Amazon, I will discuss how biomaterials development depends not only on scientific formulation and processing routes, but also on the organization of socioproductive chains, the qualification of raw materials, and the articulation between territorial production systems and industrial demand. The presentation examines the pathway from biomass sourcing, preprocessing, and physicochemical characterization to compound design, quality control, pilot scale validation, and application in the thermoplastics industry. Across this trajectory, technological maturity is understood as a multidimensional condition, requiring not only material performance, but also reproducibility, traceability, dimensional and compositional standardization, thermal stability, and compatibility with industrial processing conditions.

Particular emphasis will be given to the case of Brazil nut husk fiber, approached as a lignocellulosic resource whose value extends beyond its conventional status as an agroextractive residue. Its transition into a functional green material illustrates how the coordinated action of communities, technical institutions, and industrial partners can support the development of biomaterials rooted in the forest economy while meeting the technical demands of manufacturing systems. More broadly, this keynote argues that the advancement of green materials cannot be confined to the laboratory scale. It requires an integrated framework in which materials engineering, chain organization, and industrial validation converge to enable decarbonization, circularity, and the emergence of sustainable materials grounded in Amazonian socioecological realities.

Biography

Born in Manaus, in the Brazilian Amazon, Gabrielle M. Santos holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of São Paulo (USP). She is currently R&D&I Director at the Amazon Sustainable Innovation and Development Center, Instituto Mawé, where she leads innovation initiatives focused on biomaterials derived from Amazonian resources. Her expertise covers all stages of technological maturity, from the development of bioinputs within socio productive value chains to quality testing, industrial validation, and application in the thermoplastics industry. She has built her career at the interface of scientific research and industrial practice, with experience in plastics processing, including injection molding and extrusion. Her work is guided by the pursuit of decarbonization and the advancement of sustainable biomaterials for industrial use.

Abstract

A significant component of our research concerns the development of surface chemistry that reduces bacterial adhesion to materials employed to fabricate catheters and other medical devices.  The interaction of substrates with the components of biological fluids such as urine has constituted a research problem over many years. In this regard, a variety of strategies have been used to attempt an enhancement of biocompatibility with some emphasis being centered on the control of surface free energy and imposition of a plethora of surface coatings. In our work, we are examining the self-assembled monoloyer (SAM) modification of medical grade steel and  polymers employed in various devices. We are working primarily with samples containing relatively high concentrations of E.coli, Pseudomonas, Candida (fungus) and Staphylococcus Aureus both in static and dynamic experiments studied by fluoresence microscopy In particular,we have exmned the interaction of Cnadida Albicnas and Staphylococous Aureus with respect to both time and number of particles for exposure to the modified materials. The various SAMs exhibit distinctly different behaviour in terms of bacterial and fungal interaction and eventuaal biofilm formation. The relevance of the results of our research to the avoidance of bacterial fouling of substraes to produce  biofilms will be evaluated. 

Biography

Professor Michael Thompson obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Wales, UK and his PhD in analytical chemistry from McMaster University. Following a period as Science Research Council PDF at Swansea University, UK, he was appointed Lecturer in Instrumental Analysis at Loughborough University. He then moved to the University of Toronto where he is now Professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry. He has held a number of distinguished research posts including the Leverhulme Fellowship at the University of Durham and the Science Foundation Ireland E.T.S Walton Research Fellowship at the Tyndall National Institute, Cork City. He is recognized internationally for his pioneering work over many years in the area of research into new biosensor technologies and the surface chemistry of biochemical and biological entities. He has made major contributions to the label-free detection of immunochemical and nucleic acid interactions and surface behavior of cells using ultra high frequency acoustic wave physics. In recent years his group has concentrated on solutions to the ubiquitous fouling and biocompatibility problem of sensors and medical devices. This has included the direct operation of biosensors in biological fluids and avoidance of platelet aggregation on medical polymeric materials. Thompson has served on the Editorial Boards of a number of major international journals including Analytical Chemistry and The Analyst and is currently Editor-in-Chief of the monograph series “Detection Science” for the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. He has been awarded many prestigious international prizes for his research including The Robert Boyle Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, The Elsevier Prize in Biosensor and Bioelectronic Technology, the E.W.R. Steacie Award of the Chemical Society of Canada, and recently the 2023 Royal Society of Chemistry Horizons Prize in Analytical Science. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1999.