Smart Materials for Wound Healing: A New Fast Acting in situ Method to Treat Skin and Eye wounds

We will develop a new type of smart functionalized biomaterial for use in wound healing with applications in the defence sector. The system will incorporate multiple functionalities to stimulate the production of new tissue and degradation of scar tissue, via incorporation of different peptide units. These will be cross-linked by UV radiation to form a fibrillar scaffold. The UV cross-linking can be performed in situ locally following topical application of a spray or cream. The system will act as a rigid "filler" scaffold for tissue regrowth. This approach is different to existing techniques. This technology is highly suited for the treatment of battlefield wounds in situ, as well as the treatment of burns and post-operative wounds. It will be developed to treat wounds to the skin as well as the cornea. The technology is expected to be fast acting and is based on ease of end-use application.

We will develop new smart wound healing materials with multiple functionalities to stimulate tissue growth and reduced scarring. Our technology is based on mixtures of peptide amphiphiles with different peptide groups incorporating functionalities including collagen production, extracellular matrix restrucuring and cell adhesion motifs. These molecules will be mixed and are expected to form fibrillar network structures. These will then be fixed by UV-induced cross-linking. The peptide amphiphiles will be formulated as creams or sprays for in situ local topical application and subsequent polymerization. The materials, with fluid properties prior to polymerization, will serve as "fillers" to stimulate tissue growth, will subsequently be cross-linked to give a rigid scaffold. In another approach, fibrillar meshes can be prepared by polymerizing fibrillar films on solid substrates and then lifting off the thin web-like material for application to the wound (this being more similar to existing products, but with the advantage that multiple bioactive units are incorporated in the material). The wound healing properties will be optimised by controlling the composition of the peptide amphiphile mixtures prior to cross-linking. These materials will be developed to create wound healing systems for the skin and eye, with a particular focus on skin wounds resulting from trauma or burns. This technology is expected to lead to convenient and portable wound healing materials with applications in the defence sector.

Since this proposal in response to the JSBI partnered call is supporting the Ministry of Defence in the strategic assessment of the Defence (and security) Impact of Emerging Technology (DIET) any exploitation of results will be in discussion with the MoD/Dstl. We are specifically targetting our proposal towards the development of wound healing in defence applications. This research aims to develop a completely new technology applicable to in situ wound healing. Application via spray or cream followed by localized UV cross-linking offer a very promising system for use in battlefield situations. The light weight and topical application make the technology attractive as a potential emergency "personal" medication, again for use in battlefield situations.
Targetted means of communication and engagement will be used to disseminate the research, as appropriate, however given the remit of the proposal it is possible that the promotion of the new technology will be restricted by defence IP issues. Results will be communicated to Dstl as required every six months as a short Powerpoint presentation, updating on progress. Results will also be presented at a dissemination and networking event hosted by Dstl. This will require the production of a poster presentation and travel for the Principal Investigator and appropriate research staff. These costs have been included in the request for resources.