Three professors of the Lebanese University added a new achievement to their scientific and research portfolio. They registered an environmental and health scientific patent in the Ministry of Economy and Trade under No. 11665 on 7 May 2019.
The three professors of the Lebanese University are Prof. Ali Shokr and Prof. Ali Atwi of the Faculty of Sciences and Dr. Jean-Claude Assaf of the Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with Prof. Nicola Luca and Dr. André Al-Khoury of Saint Joseph University in Beirut. They invented a machine for the fungal detoxification of food, feed, humans, animals and other using the matrix "biofilm", in addition to the operating systems assigned to this process.
The biofilm matrix is a casing that the bacteria manufactures, hides inside, and protect itself from the surrounding factors. The bacteria used to make such casing are harmless to human health and are present naturally in certain foods and in the human digestive system.
During the experiments conducted by the research team at the Laboratory of Biomedical Research at the Lebanese University, it was found that the use of the matrix of biomedical membranes in medical and industrial applications effectively helps to remove the harmful fungal toxins that cause cancer.
The research team, composed of Prof. Shokr, Professor Atwi and Dr. Assaf, had registered a local patent in 2017 and won several awards from the Industrial Innovation Program of the Lebanese Industrial Research Achievements (LIRA) in 2018.
Prof. Ali Shokr
Prof. Ali Atwi