Project
Innovative wound healing with 3D bioprinted living microalgae
Non-healing wound is a big social problem for 1-3 percent of the whole population, resulting in billions of medical care costs. Available wound healing dressing cannot solve the problem of bacteria colonization and local hypoxia, especially for chronic patients.
An innovative idea of developing hydrogel dressing with photosynthetic microalgae is proposed to provide oxygen for faster skin-tissue repair and antibacterial exopolysaccharides. A novel microalga with high exopolysaccharides content developed by the Bioprocess Engineering chair group will be three-dimensional bioprinted with hydrogel for wound healing dressing. The optimized dressing will be used for wound healing treatment with diabetic mice. This project will provide an innovative biological solution for wound healing.
Aim
Our ambition is to develop, for the first time, a hydrogel dressing with living microalgae inside by different 3D bioprinting techniques and investigate its treatment effect on wound healing using the diabetic mouse model.
Thesis opportunities
Within this project there are various possibilities for doing a BSc or MSc thesis. At the Bioprocess Engineering chair group, we especially focus on the algae part of this project. If you are interested in doing a BSc or MSc thesis, feel free to contact me.
Funding
This project is funded by the NWO Science – XS (project number OCENW.XS22.1.042) with University Medical Center Utrecht as the partner. The project is also connected to a project about oxygen production from algae for tissue engineering funded by the Seed Fund Alliance TU/e, WUR, UU, UMC (Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University & Research, Utrecht University, and University Medical Center Utrecht).