title: Porous Alumina as a Promising Biomaterial for Public Health.
abstract: Porous aluminum is a nanostructured material characterized by unique properties, such as chemical stability, regular uniformity, dense hexagonal porous lattice with high aspect ratio nanopores, excellent mechanical strength, and biocompatibility. This overview examines how the structure and properties of porous alumina can be exploited in the field of public health. Porous alumina can be employed for fabricating membranes and filters for bioremediation, water ultrafiltration, and microfiltration/nanofiltration, being a promising technique for having clean and fresh water, which is essential for human health. Porous alumina-based nanobiosensor coated with specific antibodies or peptides seem to be a useful tool to detect and remove pathogens both in food and in water, as well as for environmental monitoring. Further, these applications, being low-energy demanding and cost-effective, are particularly valuable in resource-limited settings and contexts, and can be employed as point of use devices in developing countries, where there is an urgent need of hygiene and safety assurance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Via Antonio Pastore 1, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola Luigi
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Bragazzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Via Antonio Pastore 1, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy. Electronic address: robertobragazzi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gasparini
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Via Antonio Pastore 1, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amicizia
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL), Via Antonio Pastore 1, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Panatto
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences and Integrated Diagnostics, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Larosa
mesh_terms: D000537:Aluminum Oxide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D016062:Porosity; D011634:Public Health; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D000537:Aluminum Oxide
keywords: Biomaterials for public health; Biosensors; Environmental monitoring; Food hygiene; Label-free devices; Nanobiotechnologies for public health; Pathogen detection; Public health; Water hygiene