Patents involving nanocellulose: Analysis of their evolution since 2010.

During the last two decades cellulosic nanomaterials have been the subject of much research around the world. Moreover, in the last few years, increasing industrial interest on the field enabled the setting-up of the first facilities producing commercial quantities of nanocelluloses; whereas a number of inventions involving cellulose nano-objects are claimed every year. In this context, the current article describes the recent evolution (from 2010 till 2017) of published patents which explicitly include in their title, abstract and/or claims references to cellulose nano-objects such as cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose nanofibrils and bacterial nanocellulose. Results evidence the astonishing increase in nanocellulose patents since 2010, and specially within the last three years surveyed (i.e. 2015-2017), when published documents accounted for ca. 70 % of the total number of patents published since 2010. Besides patent timelines, data is analysed in terms of patent owners, countries of application, and citing number.

Yarrowia lipolytica: a model yeast for citric acid production.

Every year more than 2 million tons of citric acid (CA) are produced around the world for industrial uses. Although initially extracted from citrus, the low profitability of the process and the increasing demand soon stimulated the search for more efficient methods to produce CA. Currently, most world CA demand (99%) is satisfied by fermentations with microorganisms, especially filamentous fungi and yeasts. CA production with yeasts has certain advantages over molds (e.g. higher productivity and easier cultivation), which in the last two decades have triggered a clear increase in publications and patents devoted to the use of yeasts in this field. Yarrowia lipolytica has become a model yeast that proved to be successful in different production systems. Considering the current interest evidenced in the literature, the most significant information on CA production using Y. lipolytica is summarized. The relevance on CA yields of key factors such as strains, media formulation, environmental conditions and production regimes is thoroughly discussed, with particular focus on increasing CA productivity. Besides, the possibility of tuning the mentioned variables to reduce concomitant isocitric acid production-the biggest disadvantage of using yeasts-is analyzed. Available methods for CA purification/quantification are also discussed.

Epidermal stem cells and skin tissue engineering in hair follicle regeneration.

The reconstitution of a fully organized and functional hair follicle from dissociated cells propagated under defined tissue culture conditions is a challenge still pending in tissue engineering. The loss of hair follicles caused by injuries or pathologies such as alopecia not only affects the patients' psychological well-being, but also endangers certain inherent functions of the skin. It is then of great interest to find different strategies aiming to regenerate or neogenerate the hair follicle under conditions proper of an adult individual. Based upon current knowledge on the epithelial and dermal cells and their interactions during the embryonic hair generation and adult hair cycling, many researchers have tried to obtain mature hair follicles using different strategies and approaches depending on the causes of hair loss. This review summarizes current advances in the different experimental strategies to regenerate or neogenerate hair follicles, with emphasis on those involving neogenesis of hair follicles in adult individuals using isolated cells and tissue engineering. Most of these experiments were performed using rodent cells, particularly from embryonic or newborn origin. However, no successful strategy to generate human hair follicles from adult cells has yet been reported. This review identifies several issues that should be considered to achieve this objective. Perhaps the most important challenge is to provide three-dimensional culture conditions mimicking the structure of living tissue. Improving culture conditions that allow the expansion of specific cells while protecting their inductive properties, as well as methods for selecting populations of epithelial stem cells, should give us the necessary tools to overcome the difficulties that constrain human hair follicle neogenesis. An analysis of patent trends shows that the number of patent applications aimed at hair follicle regeneration and neogenesis has been increasing during the last decade. This field is attractive not only to academic researchers but also to the companies that own almost half of the patents in this field.

Nanocellulose patents trends: a comprehensive review on patents on cellulose nanocrystals, microfibrillated and bacterial cellulose.

Cellulose nanoparticles (i.e. cellulose elements having at least one dimension in the 1-100 nm range) have received increasing attention during the last decade. This is not only evident in academic articles, but it is also manifested by the increasing number of nanocellulose patents that are published every year. In the current review, nanocellulose patents are reviewed using specific software which provides valuable information on the annual number of patents that have been published throughout the years, main patent owners, most prolific inventors, and patents on the field that have received more citations. Patent statistics on rod-like cellulose nanoparticles extracted from plants by acid hydrolysis (nanocrystals), mechanical treatment leading to microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), and microbially produced nanofibrils (bacterial cellulose, BC) are analyzed in detail. The aim of the current review is to provide researchers with patent information which may help them in visualizing the evolution of nanocellulose technology, both as a whole and also divided among the different nanosized particles that are currently the subject of outstanding scientific attention. Then, patents are not only analyzed by their content, but also by global statistics which will reveal the moment at which different cellulose nanoparticles technologies achieved a breakthrough, the relative interest received by different nanocellulose particles throughout the years, the companies that have been most interested in this technology, the most prolific inventors, and the patents that have had more influence in further developments. It is expected that the results showing the explosion that nanocellulose technology is experiencing in current days will still bring more research on the topic and contribute to the expansion of nanocellulosics applications.