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Students part of the Nucleus Student Research Club are starting a new project to investigate the properties of a nanocellulose-based dressing enriched with antibacterial agents and components that change colour should an infection develop in the dressing.
Nanocellulose dressings are one of the research topics examined this academic year by members of the Nucleus Student Research Club at the Faculty of Materials Science and Ceramics. One of the groups within the club has started work on a project to develop a smart antibacterial dressing.
“Why makes a dressing intelligent? As for our dressing, it is designed to change colour if the wound becomes infected because the pH of the wound changes when an infection sets in. Nanocellulose makes an excellent dressing as it is highly absorbent and provides immediate relief when applied to a wound, which is why it is so frequently used. We have also added additional features, so that the dressing would have detection and antibacterial properties," explains Kinga Pyszny, the project leader.
One of the main advantages of nanocellulose is that it is inexpensive to produce. As part of their project, the students will be extracting nanocellulose from kombucha.
Kombucha is a drink produced by the fermentation of sweetened tea. In the process, a SCOBY is used, that is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, commonly called the “tea mushroom”. A layer of nanocellulose forms on the surface of SCOBY which can be later extracted, purified, and used in dressings.
It is precisely this nanocellulose that will be enriched with anthocyanins, causing the dressing to change colour, as well as with chitosan – a hydrogel which, thanks to its high degree of deacetylation, will exhibit antibacterial properties.
It should be noted that all the ingredients required to make the dressing are organic. Nanocellulose is extracted from the kombucha mushroom, anthocyanins can be extracted from red cabbage, and chitin for chitosan is extracted from the shells of crustaceans. The market for smart dressings includes solutions that incorporate electronic components. However, such dressings are difficult to dispose of due to the microelectronics they contain, and the disposal process is very expensive.
The dressing will be developed in the research club’s laboratory as well as in the Microbiological Research Laboratory, supervised by Dr Ewa Stodolak-Zych, associate professor at AGH University.
Among the main objectives of the students is to find out whether their dressing changes colour and whether it has antibacterial properties. These tests must meet various requirements, including medical ones; everything must be kept sterile.
The project is in its early stages and the concept needs to be tested in the laboratory first. A key aspect of the dressing assessment is evaluating how it interacts with fluids that mimic wound exudate. The use of phosphate buffered saline, or PBS, enables the stability and reactivity of the dressing to be analysed under controlled conditions. The students expect to be able to produce a dressing approximately 3 mm thick in less than a month. In further stages, they will test different combinations and proportions to find out which ones work best.
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