Name: Annalisa Neri
Supervisor: Prof Eduardo Saiz
Sponsor: Welland Medical Ltd.
Wound management represents a challenging field, not only in research and product development but also in clinic, where patients present an array of wound types. In particular, infection is a common problem in wound healing: this can result in reduced healing rates, prolonged hospitalization time and increased care costs.
The focus of this study is to develop and characterise a novel dressing comprising collagen and honey which is able to actively promote healing while preventing infection in a variety of wound types.
Collagen presents several properties that are desirable for a wound dressing: strong biocompatibility, weak antigenicity, biodegradability and in addition it can terminate the chronic state of a wound. The honey component exhibits anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, while also allowing for manipulation of the wound pH. Herein the combination of collagen and honey is investigated for the design of a novel bioactive wound dressing film able to actively promote healing. This material is intended to adhere and conform to the wound site and to degrade in contact with wound exudate. The collagen-honey films produced (Fig. 1) are being characterised in terms of chemical homogeneity, degradation rate, mechanical properties, antibacterial activity and cells response.
Figure 1. Collagen-honey based films