Projects - Current
LIPUS (ultrasound) to improve antibiofilm treatment
PhD researcher Hollie Shaw is using low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) to improve antibiofilm treatments. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a huge global challenge, and biofilm bacteria are far less sensitive to antibiotics. Hollie is investigating the potential for LIPUS to be used as an adjunct to improve antimicrobial efficacy in treating biofilms, focussing on the common and important pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, and in doing so, improving antibiotic stewardship.
Anti Quorum sensing polymers
Working with long term collaborators Prof Stephen Rimmer, Dr Tom Swift and Dr William Martin of the School of Chemistry and Bioscience at Bradford University, PhD researcher Rawan AlShalan is investigating the ability of a PNIPAM polymer produced by the Bradford team functionalised with a signalling molecule, homoserine lactone (HSL) to disrupt bacterial conversations via quorum sensing (QS) in the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. She is using the polymers to measure the effects of blocking QS signalling on P.aeruginosa viruence factors and biofilm formation. See the paper that this project leads on from here
Sugar-based wound dressings
In an exciting project funded by the British Council Pakistan, Joey, Prof Sheila MacNeil and Dr Anthony Bullock are working closely with colleagues from the Interdisciplinary Research Centre in Biomedical Materials at COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, led by Dr Muhammad Yar. We are developing a wound dressing for burn wounds and other chronic wounds contaning a sugar, 2dDR , which has been shown to be pro-angiogenic. In association with the Pakistan company Cotton Craft, Lahore, we hope to have this wound dressing fully developed within three years (by 2024). Read about the work leading up to this project here, and the original publication leading to the current work here.
cerium-containing electrospun scaffolds
Alongside School of Clinical dentistry colleague (and office mate!) Dr Ilida Ortega Asencio, and PDRA Dr Emilia Barker, we are creating electrospun scaffolds containing cerium, with the objective of developing antimicrobial wound dressings that contour to deep wounds. This work is funded by the EPSRC and is in collaboration with Floreon.
Bridging the 'gap': HUman-relevant models of wounds
In a Royal Society International Exchange funded project, Joey is working closely with Dr Karishma Kaushik and her lab in Pune, India, to bridge research expertise across both groups in the UK and India, to co-develop a human-relevant 3D wound model of multispecies biofilms as a potential alternative to animal-based pre-clinical testing. Through this collaboration, we hope to develop for the scientific community a laboratory platform that recapitulates the wound infection state with multispecies biofilm growth, in the presence of relevant host components. Read more about it here
EDIMPLANT
EDiMplant: Electrical Discharge Machining for enhanced osseointegration and antibacterial capabilities of β-phase Titanium Implant. With colleagues in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Prof Gwen Reilly, Dr Fred Claeyssens, and Prof Russell Goodall, Marie Curie Research Fellow Dr Deepak Unune is developing titanium implants for orthopaedics with excellent osteointegration and antibacterial properties. The project involves developing a competent surface modification approach suitable for enhanced osseointegration and antibacterial capabilities of biomaterials.
Additive manufacturing of biomaterials for orbital bone replacement
Alongside Prof. Cheryl Miller, Dr Rob Moorehead and Dr Candice Majewski, Joey is part of a team working with PhD researcher Maha Omran. Maha is using additive manufacturing processes to develop polymer-ceramic composites with antimicrobial properties to replace the complex geometries of fractured orbital floor bone.