As the name suggests, this research laboratory includes two different areas: Nutraceuticals , related with natural bioactive ingredients and products with health benefits that are competitive key factors in agro–food, cosmetic or pharmaceutical industries, and Controlled Delivery associated with the development of adequate and efficient systems to overcome barriers to drug’s usefulness, involving
particle formation (micro and nano-scale), and incorporation of the active principles in biocompatible and biodegradable matrixes. Most of the work related with Controlled Delivery is planned to have application in the pharmaceutical industry, as potential solutions to real problems or as alternatives to conventional methodologies. The expertise in Controlled Delivery is also applied in the formulation of functionalized products or the production of natural bioactive ingredients, for the optimization of stability/shelf-life, solubility/ bioavailability and compatibility with target final products. Our main activities are centered on:
Green Processes for developing health promoting products
Supercritical Fluid Technology – application to extraction and precipitation processes
Materials Processing – particle formation, hybrid structures and microbubbles, nano/micro encapsulation and impregnation
and our projects include:
Development of Drug Delivery Systems
Functional Products and Nutraceuticals Formulation
Health claims assessment (in-vitro bioactivity evaluation, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or cytotoxicity characterisation and establishment of structure-specific activity relationships)