European researchers help to develop new materials for monitoring and healing wounds

DERMA is an EU Interreg 2 Seas project led by Dr Iain Allan from the Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Devices, University of Brighton (UK), and features researchers from the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth (UK), the Polymer Chemistry and Biomaterials Research Group at Ghent University (Belgium) and the French healthcare tech-transfer agency, Eurasanté.

The project team have produced materials to tackle the problem of unpleasant wound malodour and materials designed to deliver antimicrobial agents to tackle wound infections with improved efficiency. The team also developed a new material that changes colour in the presence of bacteria.

If approved for future clinical use, this could enable the detection of emerging wound infections, allowing earlier clinical intervention, before the wound condition deteriorates.

The materials were designed for the management and treatment of dermal ulcers, other chronic non-healing wounds, and related skin conditions, to which elderly people and those with diabetes, are especially vulnerable.

The DERMA team hosted an online event to mark the end of the project on Wednesday 25 November. The event featured a documentary film ‘Biomaterials in Action’, describing the DERMA project and its results, followed by an interactive panel discussion with project collaborators and other experts in the field.