On a worldwide scale, food demand is increasing as a consequence of global population growth. This makes companies push their food supply chains’ limits with a consequent increase in generation of large amounts of untreated waste that are considered of no value to them. Biorefinery technologies offer a suitable alternative for obtaining high-value products by using unconventional raw materials, such as agro-industrial waste. Currently, most biorefineries aim to take advantage of specific residues (by either chemical, biotechnological, or physical treatments) provided by agro-industry in order to develop high-value products for either in-house use or for sale purposes. This article reviews the currently explored possibilities to apply biorefinery-known processes to banana agro-industrial waste in order to generate high-value products out of this residual biomass source. Firstly, the Central and Latin American context regarding biomass and banana residues is presented, followed by advantages of using banana residues as raw materials for the production of distinct biofuels, nanocellulose fibers, different bioplastics, and other high-value products Lastly, additional uses of banana biomass residues are presented, including energy generation and water treatment.

Bioengineered matrices from self-assembling peptides and extracellular matrix proteins can model the tumor microenvironment.

Regenerative medicine has taken advantage of several nanomaterials for reparation of diseased or damaged tissues in the nervous system involved in memory, cognition, and movement. Electrical, thermal, mechanical, and biocompatibility aspects of carbon-based nanomaterials (nanotubes, graphene, fullerenes, and their derivatives) make them suitable candidates to drive nerve tissue repair and stimulation. This review article focuses on key recent advances on the use of carbon nanotube- (CNT-) based technologies on nerve tissue engineering, outlining how neurons interact with CNT interfaces for promoting neuronal differentiation, growth and network reconstruction. CNTs still represent strong candidates for use in therapies of neurodegenerative pathologies and spinal cord injuries.

A key feature in biomaterial design is the incorporation of bioactive signals into artificial constructs to stimulate tissue regeneration. Most currently used hydrogel cell culture systems depend on the covalent attachment of extracellular matrix (ECM)-derived peptides to either macromolecular units or smaller self-assembling building blocks, thereby restricting biosignal presentation and adaptability. However, new ways to rationally incorporate adhesion epitopes through non-covalent interactions would offer opportunities to better recreate the dynamic and reversible nature of the native ECM. Here we report on a non-covalent epitope presentation approach mediated by host-guest interactions. Using peptide amphiphile hydrogels we demonstrate that the adamantane/β-cyclodextrin (Ada/βCD) pair can be used to anchor RGDS cell adhesion signals onto self-assembled hydrogels via host-guest interactions. We evaluate hydrogel morphological and rheological properties as well as fibroblast attachment, organisation, and spreading when cultured atop these scaffolds. This host-guest mediated epitope display might lead to new self-assembling hydrogels for improved cell culture applications as well tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. KEYWORDS: non-covalent, adamantane, cyclodextrin, bioactivity, attachment, self-assembly.