Lea Schöppach

Bachelor student

Development of phytotherapeutic wound dressings by utilizing cotton-like bioactive glass fibers

 

Supervisors: Irem Unalan, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Bacterial contamination during wound healing remains a critical health concern to this day. The development of phytotherapeutic (PT) antibacterial wound dressings using the incorporation of natural agents, e.g. plant derived compounds, is of growing interest, due to their multifunctional properties regarding their antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activity [1]. This bachelor thesis aims to develop sol-gel-based (80Si20Ca) cotton-like bioactive glass fibers for wound healing applications using electrospinning. In this regard, these bioglass (BG) fibers will be produced according to a previous development at the FAU Institute of Biomaterials [2]. Then the functionalized fibers will be characterized in terms of their physical, mechanical and chemical properties as well as their biological activity.

[1] Unalan, I., & Boccaccini, A. R. (2021). Essential oils in biomedical applications: Recent progress and future opportunities. Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering, 17, 100261.

[2] Liverani, L., Reiter, T., Zheng, K., Neščáková, Z., & Boccaccini, A. R. (2022). Copper-doped cotton-like malleable electrospun bioactive glass fibers for wound healing applications. Materials Letters: X, 14, 100133.