Team:Leiden
S.P.L.A.S.H.
Suckerin Polymer Layer to Achieve Sustainable Health
S.P.L.A.S.H.
Suckerin Polymer Layer to Achieve Sustainable Health
Severe burn wounds constitute a major public health problem causing 300,000 casualties annually. Besides fatalities, 11 million victims are hospitalized, of which many are left with lifelong disfiguration and disabilities.
Donor skin, used in current treatments, is scarce due to specific characteristics and many processing steps leading to high demand for alternative treatments.
One interesting alternative is the use of a novel biomaterial recently found in the Humboldt squid suckerin protein. Suckerin assets unique features such as flexibility, strength, and ability to self-assemble into β-sheets, making it ideal for hydrogel formation. Since molecular engineering enables cheap, fast and high-yield production within microorganisms, we thrive to produce a suckerin-based hydrogel as a donor skin substitute.
Introducing a linker system enables the joining of antimicrobial peptides, numbing agents and wound healing stimulators. Therefore, our suckerin-based hydrogel can improve the prognosis for burn wound victims by both preventing infections and promoting wound healing.