On 28-29th , September, the “2012 medical-grade collagen regulatory policy and economic and technical innovation conference & the eighth national academic conference of medical-grade collagen” was held. The experts and enterprise leaders delivered speeches on the research and application of collagen.

Bio-active collagen and its degradation products posses high bio-activity

Zhang Guifeng, the researcher of the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, said "Collagen plays an irreplaceable role in wound repair processes in tissues with abundant collagen, such as skin, connective tissue, tendon, cartilage and bone. Genetic mutations, expression, post-translational modifications, assembly, and abnormal degradation processes of collagen in organisms will lead to abnormal function such as diseases, organs, or tissues."

Zhang Guifeng, the researcher of the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

According to Ye Chunting , chief scientist of Guangdong Research and Development Center of Medical Collagn Engineering Technology, "Bio-collagen and its degradation products are highly bio-active and involved in a variety of biological processes in vivo. Meanwhile, exogenous collagen shows low immunogenicity in vivo, and its degradation process is strictly and precisely regulated, after which the end products also promote the production of endogenous collagen."

Ye Chunting , chief scientist of Guangdong Research and Development Center of Medical Collagen Engineering Technology

Zhang Yuan, deputy director of the National Health Industry Enterprise Management Association's Special Committee on Regenerative Medicine and Biomaterials, said, "Collagen-based materials can be processed into a variety of structures such as membranes, sponges, and gels. Currently, collagen-based materials has the best clinical results and are most widely used in guiding tissue regeneration membranes .”

Zhang Yuan, deputy director of the National Health Industry Enterprise Management Association's Special Committee on Regenerative Medicine and Biomaterials

“The production cost, raw material safety, stability and structure of recombinant collagen are determined by the expression system ," noted Fan Yujiang, the professor of the National Engineering Research Center for Biomedical Materials. Recombinant collagen with single-chain is more conducive to industrial mass production and can be chemically modified or cross-linked to enhance stability and intensity. The performance of recombinant collagen raw material with triple helix has more advantages. New processes need to be explored to reduce costs and increase yields.”

Fan Yujiang, the professor of the National Engineering Research Center for Biomedical Materials.

Chen Yunhua, a professor in the Collage of Materials Science and Engineering at South China University of Technology, mentioned that "Massive incidents such as burns and car accidents as well as surgical procedures occur every year, resulting in severe tissue trauma. In response to the problems of complex wound shape, bleeding, tissue fluid effusion and bacterial infection, collagen/gelatin nano-membrane materials that are flexible and adherable to complex-shaped wounds have been developed based on the material-tissue interface adaptability, for the purpose of   resistance to wound infection and timely hemostasis."

Chen Yunhua, a professor in the Collage of Materials Science and Engineering at South China University of Technology

Xu Xinrong, executive deputy director of the Medical Device Research and Inspection Center of South China University of Technology, said, "Collagen is a trending topic for research and application in developed countries because of its dual functions for nutrition and physiological regulation. In China, the collagen market is an emerging market with a market size growth rate of over 20%.The major application gradually shift from cosmetics and health care products towards medicine."

Xu Xinrong, executive deputy director of the Medical Device Research and Inspection Center of South China University of Technology

The time of collagen to be retained in the body

Wang Xiumei, professor of Collage of Materials, Tsinghua University, pointed out in the video lecture that "the market capacity of artificial materials for bone repair in China is about 20 billion yuan, and the proportion of imported high-end materials and implantation devices for bone repair is as high as 80%, and the domestic products fail to meet the clinical demand. Bionic mineralized collagen bone material with good osteogenic activity and is successfully used for the repair of various bone defects, which also gives us the confidence in transformation of cranial bone regeneration in clinic." From the perspective of Cheng Shujun, the researcher of the Collage of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, "The safety-testing protocol for bio-active materials analyzes whether they have antigenic epitope characteristics, and whether they cause IgE-mediated immediate hypersensitivity or delayed hypersensitivity based on structure-function relationship; biological testing, cytotoxicity testing, phototoxicity and oxidation testing, biological testing of glycosylation and transdermal absorption assessment. The risk assessment of bioactive materials needs more attentions such as extracts from animals, extracts with abundant plant proteins, new processes, new structures, mixtures, expected high-risk ingredients, etc.

Cheng Shujun, the researcher of the Collage of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

According to Prof. Gu Qisheng of Yantai University, "the retention time of collagen as a dermal filler after implantation in the body deserves attention. This requires attention to the whole process from its entry into the body to complete degradation, as well as to the differences among natural collagen, cross-linked collagen and collagen peptides, and finally, the retention time in the body is determined by the results from a combination of testing, animal and clinics."

Prof. Gu Qisheng of Yantai University

Cao Xiaodong, the professor in the Collage of Materials Science and Engineering at South China University of Technology, mentioned that "microgel assembly is a macroscopic scaffolds composed of microgels in a bottoms-up manner, featuring microporosity, injectability and heterogeneity, which can be used for cell culture, tissue regeneration and 3D printing."

Cao Xiaodong, the professor of the Collage of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology

Chen Songqing, a nurse-in-charge and international wound therapist at the Trauma Treatment Center of the General Hospital of the Southern War Zone of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said, "The occurrence of various chronic diseases is increasing year by year, leading to a high incidence of chronic wounds related to it such as pressure sores, diabetic foot and venous ulcers of lower extremities. The application of collagen sponge in chronic wounds is of high value, as it facilitates healing at the beginning, middle and healing steps of the wound repair process, and it can accelerate the physiological healing process."

Chen Songqing, a nurse-in-charge and international wound therapist at the Trauma Treatment Center of the General Hospital of the Southern War Zone of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

Huang Yadong, the researcher of the collage of life science and technology, Ji’nan University, said, “With the aging of population comes various clinical disease, tissue regeneration and repair is under great demands. Recombinant human collagen and its derived products have clear and single structure with few impurities and diversification, which are much safer than collagen extracted from animal tissue.”

Huang Yadong, the researcher of the collage of life science and technology, Ji’nan University

In a video speech, Aime Zhong, a professor at the Union Hospital attached to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, noted, "Collagen has a unique triple-helix structure and intertwines into a network that provides mechanical support and scalability to the skin. Collagen has the biological properties of low immunogenicity, hemostasis, biocompatibility and biodegradability to restore the barrier of injured skin."

Collagen is expected to be next booming material

Dr. Zhong Yongliang, Marketing Director of Guangdong Engineering Technology Research and Development Center for Medical Collagen and Guangzhou Trauer Biotechnology Co., Ltd. pointed out that "Bio-collagen facilitates cell growth with high repair properties, which significantly promotes the migration of human epidermal keratinocytes. It has the function of skin barrier repair, and the effect of cell migration and proliferation is more evident than that of recombinant human collagen at 24h and 48h."

Dr. Zhong Yongliang, Marketing Director of Guangdong Engineering Technology Research and Development Center for Medical Collagen and Guangzhou Trauer Biotechnology Co., Ltd

Dr. Da,Qi , Senior Scientist at Guangzhou Trauer Biotechnology Co., Ltd. said, "The AQbD concept is a systematic R&D approach based on reliable scientific management and quality risk management, with predefined targets and emphasis on the understanding of product and process as well as process control. The development of cytological assays,based on the AQbD concept for collagen biology, facilitates the reduction of production costs; patients could also have drugs with quality assurance."

Dr. Da Qi , Senior Scientist of Guangzhou Trauer Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

Lin Yuting, CEO of Taiwan Shuangmei Greater China, mentioned, "Collagen is  well-adhesive and known as the 'physiological glue'. Collagen dehydration and its fibrous aggregation and contraction properties can keep tightening the skin tissue. The histological structure of porcine skin collagen is similar to that of human skin collagen, which is safer."

Lin Yuting,CEO of Taiwan Shuangmei in Greater China

Xu Xiaofang, chief analyst of CITIC Securities suggests that "collagen medical devices and cosmetics are important driving forces in the beauty industry. Beauty industry embraces large capacity and fast growth rate, the market size of medical beauty is expected to be over trillion in 2030, collagen is projected to become the next booming material in the field of non-operation cosmetics medicine with its unique efficacy."

Xu Xiaofang, chief analyst of CITIC Securities 

In a video speech, Yosuke Hiraoka, chief researcher of the General Research Institute in Nitta-Gelatin Inc.. said, "It was found that for collagen sponges and collagen sponges with PGA fibers, cells can be uniformly penetrated into the interior of the sponge. the incorporation of PGA fibers is a simple and promising method to enhance collagen sponges without compromising the cellular compatibility of collagen. The resistance to compression is improved when PGA fibers are combined with the collagen sponge, and collagen sponges containing PGA fibers can promote hair growth." In addition, there are also discussions on the trends and developments in the collagen industry at the conference.

Free-discussion forum 1: momentum and trend of scientific regulatory policy; review and expectation of collagen industry

Free-discussion forum 2:innovation and application of medical-grade collagen; economic frontier areas and drives of collagen material.