Obiettivo Fighting microbial infection of wounds, especially in immunocompromised patients, is a major challenge in the 21st century. The skin barrier is the primary defence against microbial (opportunistic) pathogens. When this barrier is breached even non-pathogenic fungi may cause devastating infections, most of which provoked by crossover fungi able to infect both plant and humans. Hence, diabetic patients (ca. 6.4% of the world population), who are prone to develop chronic non-healing wounds, constitute a major risk group. My research is driven by the vision of mimicking the functionality of plant polyesters to develop wound dressing biomaterials that combine antimicrobial and skin regeneration properties.Land plants have evolved through more than 400 million years, developing defence polyester barriers that limit pathogen adhesion and invasion. Biopolyesters are ubiquitous in plants and are the third most abundant plant polymer. The unique chemical composition of the plant polyester and its macromolecular assembly determines its physiological roles. This lipid-based polymer shows important similarities to the epidermal skin layer; hence it is an excellent candidate for a wound-dressing material. While evidences of their skin regeneration properties exist in cosmetics formulations and in traditional medicine, extracting polyesters from plants results in the loss of both native structure and inherent barrier properties hampering progress in this area.We have developed a biocompatible extraction method that preserves the plant polyester film forming abilities and their inherent biological properties. The ex-situ reconstituted polyester films display the native barrier properties, including potentially broad antimicrobial and anti-biofouling effect. This, combined with our established record in fungal biochemistry/genetics, places us in a unique position to push the development of plant polyester materials to be applied in wounds, in particular diabetic chronic wounds. Campo scientifico natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologymycologynatural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciencesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipidsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculescarbohydratesnatural scienceschemical sciencescatalysis Parole chiave Plant polyester materials Filamentous fungi Antimicrobial and anti-biofouling surfaces molecular genetics and chemistry wounds Programma(i) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Argomento(i) ERC-CoG-2014 - ERC Consolidator Grant Invito a presentare proposte ERC-2014-CoG Vedi altri progetti per questo bando Meccanismo di finanziamento ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Istituzione ospitante UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA Contribution nette de l'UE € 1 795 967,50 Indirizzo CAMPUS DE CAMPOLIDE 1099 085 Lisboa Portogallo Mostra sulla mappa Regione Continente Área Metropolitana de Lisboa Área Metropolitana de Lisboa Tipo di attività Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Partecipazione a programmi di R&I dell'UE Opens in new window Rete di collaborazione HORIZON Opens in new window Costo totale € 1 795 967,50 Beneficiari (1) Classifica in ordine alfabetico Classifica per Contributo netto dell'UE Espandi tutto Riduci tutto UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA Portogallo Contribution nette de l'UE € 1 795 967,50 Indirizzo CAMPUS DE CAMPOLIDE 1099 085 Lisboa Mostra sulla mappa Regione Continente Área Metropolitana de Lisboa Área Metropolitana de Lisboa Tipo di attività Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Collegamenti Contatta l’organizzazione Opens in new window Partecipazione a programmi di R&I dell'UE Opens in new window Rete di collaborazione HORIZON Opens in new window Costo totale € 1 795 967,50