Breakfast saves lives: development of novel v(egg)etarian and fruit-derived biological wound dressings

Project ID: 2228cd1350 (You will need this ID for your application)

UCL Lead department: Eastman Dental Institute

Lead Supervisor: David Chau

Project Summary:

Damage or degeneration of any (biological) membrane is often as a consequence of disease or traumatic injury. Current therapeutic treatments suffer from limitations ranging from cosmetic impact, patient compliance, tissue availability and negative biological/tissue/patient integration. In addition, there is increasing demand for a low cost, bioactive, therapeutic bandage that can also deliver a therapeutic payload, or induce a positive/enhanced microenvironment. To date, the eggshell membrane (ESM) has been documented to have clinical therapeutic potential in several biomedical applications (i.e. skin and eye) due to its innate mechanical and biological properties [1]. However, the feasibility of mechanical enhancement, drug-incorporation, surface modification, and/or “patching” of the membrane has yet to be considered but would significantly increases in translational ability to other areas such as homecare, food processing and environmental sustainability. Moreover, a parallel analogy can be made with a number of fruit-based membranes that have been identified from initial proof-of-concept studies [2]- offering a significant advantage by being completely animal-free and could also be used to assess novel chemicals/compounds for drug development studies.