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.
My research is driven by the vision of mimicking the functionality of plant polyesters to develop novel and efficient antifungal therapies, specifically wound dressing biomaterials that also show skin regeneration properties.
Land plants have evolved through more than 400 million years, developing ubiquitous defence polyester barriers (lipid-based polymers) that limit pathogen adhesion and invasion. The unique chemical composition and structure of the plant polyester determines its physiological roles. However, conventional methods to extract polyesters from plants result in the loss of both native structure and inherent barrier properties hampering progress in this area. Besides, plant polyesters own an intractable chemistry that remains largely unknown.
To lead discovery, we have developed a biocompatible extraction method that ensures recovery of the native polymer, hence displaying native barrier properties, including potentially broad antimicrobial and anti-biofouling effect. Our major objectives are to elucidate which plant polyester compositions reconstitute ex-situ as stronger antimicrobial films, to then unravel their antimicrobial mechanism of action. Naturally, the challenge is to understand how the chemical structure of the polymer influences the biological activity.
