PROJECTS
Development of antimicrobial medical devices
Another promising approach to circumvent AMPs’ short half-life and cytotoxicity associated with high concentration of soluble peptide molecules, without affecting their efficacy in reducing bacterial colonization and biofilm formation (especially on medical devices) is given by their covalent immobilization on biomaterial’s surface. This research line aims developing medical devices e.g. self-sterilizing contact lenses (CLs) capable of preventing microbial colonization of lenses and therefore the appearance of keratitis.
In parallel, development of our frog skin AMPs/optimized analogs for the formulation of new anti-infective agents for treatment of ocular surface microbial infections are investigated.
Collaborators:
Prof. Mark Willcox, School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Prof. Alison M. McDermott, Department of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK