Overseas Travel Grant - Research visit to Louvain Drug Research Institute at the Universite catholique de Louvain

海外旅行补助金 - 参观天主教鲁汶大学鲁汶药物研究所

• 批准号: EP/V003127/1
• 负责人: Padrig Flynn
• 金额: $ 2.58万
• 依托单位: Queen's University Belfast
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FV003127%2F1
• 关键词: Overseas; Travel; Grant; Research; visit; Overseas; Travel; Grant; Research; visit

Chronic wounds impose a significant and often underestimated burden to the individual, the healthcare system and society as a whole. It has been estimated that the NHS spends £5 billion on treating chronic wounds with approximately 2.2 million people living with chronic wounds in the UK. These chronic wounds are extremely susceptible to infection. With sufferers of non-healing wounds regularly receiving antibiotic treatment for recurring infected wounds. Bacteria responsible for these infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have the capacity to evade the immune system and antibiotic treatment by hiding within cells resulting in persistent and recurrent infections transforming these cells into reservoirs of infection. Bacteria that evade the immune system by persisting in the intracellular environment are difficult to treat with traditional antibiotic therapies due to the varied susceptibility to antibiotics within the intracellular environment as well as the challenge of achieving effective concentrations of antibiotics within the cellular environment. New treatment strategies are required to increase the effectiveness of antibiotics for intracellular infection treatments, that currently require lengthy and repeated antibiotic treatments. These repeated treatments contribute to antimicrobial resistance through ineffective clearance of the pathogen from the infected individual and modification of their microbiome increasing the population of resistant bacteria within their body. Cold plasma technology is an innovative and new approach for the disinfection of infected surfaces and chronic infected wounds. Cold plasma refers to a partially ionised gas generated from the input of electrical energy into a gas such as helium, creating a plasma suitable for treating heat sensitive surfaces like our skin. There is already a range of devices available for treatment of infected wounds. Currently the antibacterial activity of this technology is well characterised however there is no published data on its effects on intracellular infected cells alongside antibiotic treatments. The aim of this project is to investigate the efficacy of cold plasma treatment of infected cells with subsequent cold plasma deposition of a hydrogel dressing impregnated with antibiotic nanoparticles, to improve the potency and effectiveness of antibiotics for treatment of intracellular infections and chronic wounds. This will result in a reduction of the required antibiotic treatments for the effective clearance of persistent tissue infections as well as localised treatment of the infection. In order to achieve this aim a suitable intracellular infection model must be developed. At the Louvain Drug Research Institute, Universite' Catholique de Louvain, they have developed antibiotic pharmacodynamic models for intracellular infections. This proposed research visit to this Institution will result in an understanding and expertise in the use of this model in order to fulfill the aims of my research program as well as developing international collaboration with a world-leading Institution in antibiotics and their pharmacodynamics in infected cells.

慢性胜利对个人，医疗体系和整个社会施加了重大且经常被低估的烧伤。据估计，NHS花费50亿英镑治疗慢性伤口，在英国大约有220万人患有慢性伤口。这些慢性伤口极易感染。由于非治疗益处的患者经常接受抗生素治疗，以进行反复感染的收益。负责这些感染的细菌，例如金黄色葡萄球菌（MRSA）和铜绿假单胞菌的细菌具有躲避免疫系统和抗生素治疗的能力，通过隐藏在细胞内，从而导致持久和反复的感染将这些细胞转化为这些细胞，从而将这些细胞转化为卵裂性感染。由于在细胞内环境中对抗生素的敏感性的变化以及在细胞环境中实现有效浓度的挑战，因此很难使用传统的抗生素疗法来治疗逃避免疫系统的细菌。需要新的治疗策略来提高抗生素对细胞内感染治疗的有效性，这些治疗目前需要长期且重复的抗生素治疗。这些重复的治疗方法通过因感染个体而无效地清除病原体而导致抗菌素耐药性，并修饰其微生物组，从而增加了体内耐药细菌的种群。冷等离子体技术是对感染表面和慢性感染伤口消毒的一种创新和新方法。冷等离子体是指从电能输入到氦气等气体中产生的部分离子气体，创建了适合处理热敏表面（如我们的皮肤）的等离子体。已经有一系列可用于治疗感染伤口的设备。目前，该技术的抗菌活性已经很好地表征了，但是尚无关于其对细胞内感染细胞以及抗生素处理的影响的数据。该项目的目的是研究感染细胞的冷等离子体治疗的有效性，随后用抗生素纳米颗粒浸渍水凝胶敷料的冷血浆沉积，以提高抗生素对细胞内感染和慢性伤口的治疗的效力和有效性。这将导致减少所需的抗生素处理，以有效清除持续组织感染以及对感染的局部治疗。为了实现此目标，必须开发合适的细胞内感染模型。在Louvain药物研究所，大学的Catholique de Louvain，他们开发了用于细胞内感染的抗生素药效学模型。对该机构进行的拟议研究访问将在使用该模型的使用方面具有理解和专业知识，以实现我的研究计划的目的，并与受感染细胞中的抗生素领域的世界领先机构及其药效学建立国际合作。