Overcoming the mucus: new antimicrobials and delivery to treat mucosal infections

This collaborative project will allow the exchange of two Swedish researchers and two Brazilian researchers, between the Royal institute of Technology, KTH (Sweden) and the Federal University of Ceará (Brazil).

These exchanges will allow to expand an ongoing research in both groups on the development of antimicrobial strategies and provide access to material and methodologies otherwise inaccessible to these groups.

The overall aim of the research program is to develop new strategies to treat microbial pathogens that are protected by the mucus gel that covers the mucosal epithelium they infect. In the first half of 2022, Dr.

Sedef Ilk, from KTH will spend 5 months at UFC to explore the use of a chitosan/lecithin nanoparticle system to load new essential oil antimicrobial compounds. During that time, Dr.

Raimunda Sâmia Brilhante Nogueira from UFC will spend 6 months at KTH to learn about mucus and develop a mucus-model to test antimicrobial compounds on pathogens typically infection mucus-covered epithelium in a more relevant fashion. In the second half of 2022, Dr.

Ulrike Schimpf from KTH will spend 3 months at UFC to test the new nanoparticle loaded with antimicrobial on clinical relevant strains, leveraging the newly-developed mucus-containing model. Finally, Dr.

Rodrigo Silveira Vieira from UFC will come 6 months at KTH to modify the nanoparticle system to improve its diffusivity into mucus.