The Unmet Need for Artificial Saliva - Research by Sarkar Lab covered in ACS Central Science
Xerostomia or dry mouth affects 1 in 10 adult predominantly elders leading to malnutrition and severe impairment in quality of life. Prof. Sarkar (PI, Sarkar Lab) has spoken to Alla Katsnelson published in ACS Central Science (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.3c00803) about the team’s recent ground-breaking work on AquaLub Project (Funded by European Research Council Proof of Concept) on design and translation of a patented microgel-reinforced hydrogel-based saliva substitute [1] that offers super-lubricity and long-lasting relief to dry mouth patients – thanks to the incredible technical and translational work done by Dr. Olivia Pabois (Postdoctoral Research Fellow) and others in the team in collaboration with Research and Innovation Services Commercialization Team at Nexus. The work on further development including large scale manufacturing feasibility of this innovative salivary substitute is ongoing, supported by UKRI ( ESRC) Healthy Ageing Catalyst ZINC. Prof. Sarkar and team are now looking forward to the next set of investments for further development of this deep tech.
Read the interview of Prof. Sarkar here alongside interviews of various other eminent researchers in the field of artificial saliva development from US (Stanford University, Yale University, Cornell University, University of Utah), University of Buffalo), UK (King’s College, London), Denmark (University of Copenhagen) and Netherlands (University of Groningen): https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.3c00803
- Hu, E. Andablo-Reyes, S. Soltanahmadi, and A. Sarkar (2020). Synergistic microgel-reinforced hydrogels as high-performance lubricants. ACS Macro Lett. 9, 12, 1726–1731 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.0c00689