Time-Resolved Approach to Tackle Infection and Enhance Wound Healing with Nanoengineered Fibrous Dressings

Chronic wounds afflict millions of patients causing pain, amputations, or death thus placing a huge psychological and economic burden on society.

Healing of chronic wounds is impeded by bacterial colonization often from resistant strains in the wound microenvironment and the presence of inactive cells that block the healing cascade.

Current treatments of chronic wounds are ineffective because they cannot clear the infection and rely on frequent exchange of dressings disrupting the healing.

Our aim is to establish a unique platform for the holistic therapy of chronic wounds by an interdisciplinary approach consolidating nanoparticle engineering, electrospinning technology, microbiology and skin immunology.

The ultimate goal is to develop a chronic wound dressing that exhibits time-resolved antimicrobial activity and triggered delivery of biomolecules that promote healing.

We will advance the field by developing core-shell electrospun fibers with antimicrobial nanosilver in its dissolvable shell and photothermal nanoparticles along with lipid-nanocarriers with healing biomolecules in the thermoresponsive core enabling their triggered release by near-IR irradiation.

Our nanoengineering approach will provide fundamental insight into physicochemical properties that dictate the precise use of nanomaterials in the chronic wound microenvironment. The outcome of this research will support precision treatments of chronic wounds improving patient quality of life.