Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are chronic, nonhealing wounds that comprise a major complication associated with diabetes and a considerable burden on healthcare costs worldwide. Owing to their chronic nature, DFU are at increased risk of infection, which can lead to devastating consequences for patients such as limb amputation. Conventional treatments are insufficient, and thus new approaches are necessary to prevents wound infection, and provide a stimulus to promote repair.
This project will focus on frontier research to develop a state-of-the-art treatment modality for diabetic wounds. A multi-disciplinary approach will be used to engineer a bilayered Hyaluronic acid hydrogel system with an antimicrobial protective layer to prevent infection, and a rapidly pore-forming layer to promote vascularisation and regeneration of the tissue. A barrier layer decorated with the antimicrobial polysaccharide chitosan will prevent infection, while the underlying pore-forming layer will be decorated with pro-angiogenic ECM moieties that stimulate vascularisation by infiltrating cells. Assessment of therapeutic efficacy in a preclinical model of DFU will establish the potential of this bilayered system to promote re-epithelialisation, tissue vascularization and healing of DFUs. Overall this pioneering project seeks to address gaps in currently available treatment modalities to prevent infection and support vasculrisation and tissue regeneration, and will provide a significant advancement towards the development of biomaterials-based therapies for the treatment of DFUs.