NextPHAGE will heal infected wounds even without antibiotics

News, 22/08/2022

The University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings of CTU develops and tests medical devices of the new generation, which, thanks to the use of nanofibrous materials, will bring an alternative to antibiotics in the treatment of infected wounds.

On the NextPHAGE project, in addition to the research týmu Nanomateriály a biotechnologie The University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague and the companies Inocure and Fagofarma are also participating. Their goal is to create antibacterial skin coverings using bacteriophages. These are viruses that specifically attack specific bacterial strains and allow doctors to effectively fight even bacteria resistant to antibiotics. However, their use in traditional medicinal preparations has been quite problematic up to now also due to the fact that they quickly lose their lytic activity during storage.

NextPHAGE skin covers overcome these shortcomings by encapsulating bacteriophages in nanofibrous materials with a stabilizing function. Thanks to this, it will be possible to use them routinely in hospitals and during home treatment. The produced nanofibrous layers containing bacteriophages are currently being tested. In the future, they should offer an effective alternative to the treatment of infected wounds with antibiotics, and thus help prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistance.

"Implementation of project No. FW03010509 was supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic from the Trend program."