Shining a light on chronic wounds: testing the anti-biofilm activity and tissue-healing attributes of 405 nm blue-violet light technology
Supervisors:
Jason Brown, University of Glasgow
Michelle MacLean, The Robertson Trust Laboratory for Electronic Sterilisation Technologies (ROLEST), Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering/Department of Biomedical Engineering, (University of Strathclyde)
Mairi Sandison, Biomedical Engineering, (University of Strathclyde)
Summary:
Chronic wounds have devastating impact on various aspects of patient life, and such diseases often clinically present as polymicrobial infections (e.g., biofilms) that are challenging to treat. Standard clinical intervention involves mechanical debridement of tissue, the use of systemic or local targeted antibiotic therapy. However due to the global problem of antibiotic resistance, alternative options for appropriate wound care and management must be explored.
One such strategy is the use of photodynamic treatment, specifically the use of 405nm violet-blue light to combat biofilms in vitro. Working across all research groups, the student will undergo training in a range of cross-disciplinary skills to develop an optical treatment system to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of 405nm light against simple and complex biofilm models. Follow-up work will require the development of a complex organotypic co-culture infection model, using commercially available skin epidermis, to assess the ability to achieve antimicrobial activity using optical parameters compatible with the model mammalian tissue.
The student will undergo training in specialized techniques including: optical profiling, microbiological techniques for modelling biofilm growth and antimicrobial testing, handling of mammalian tissue, live-cell imaging, materials characterization, and a broad range of important research skills. Upon completion of the PhD, the student will have learnt a variety of transferable attributes that will allow for a future career in academia or industry.