Graphene family materials as novel chronic wound therapeutics

Abstract

Chronic wounds exhibit abnormal and delayed healing, where unhealed wounds cost the NHS £5.6 billion annually. Infections complicate chronic wound treatment, increasing healthcare costs, morbidity and mortality rates, risk of treatment failure and potential limb amputation. Common causative pathogens of chronic wound infections, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus along with the other ESKAPE pathogens, are a growing concern due to their increasing multidrug resistance and biofilm forming capacity which reduces antibiotic efficacy and magnifies treatment challenges. This has focused recent research efforts to develop new antimicrobial agents to target these infections, where two-dimensional carbon nanomaterials, specifically graphene family materials (GFM) have attracted growing interest in biomedical applications due to their unique properties and antimicrobial activity.

This thesis aimed to investigate the potential of GFMs as novel chronic wound therapeutics. A review of the relevant literature determined that, despite reports of graphene oxide (GO) being the most antimicrobial GFM, the extent of its activity remained widely contradictory. Thorough experimental investigations herein concluded this was due to inadequate material characterisation, unsuitable microbiological methods and differences in material purification, all factors significantly influencing the apparent antimicrobial activity of GO. Once these shortcomings were addressed, GO itself, purified by HCl and water washing, exhibited significant planktonic antimicrobial activity against ESKAPES pathogens but lacked the corresponding antibiofilm activity. Despite effective GO release, GO-loaded hydrogel delivery did not prove an effective therapeutic in a novel in vitro wound model, possibly due to GO interactions with the hydrogel constituents. While future work may seek to enhance GO activity, resolution of issues surrounding its loss of stability and functionality under physiological conditions underpins its potential efficacy in biomedical applications.

Thesis is embargoed until 30th April 2027

Date of Award	Apr 2025
Original language	English
Sponsors	Department for the Economy
Supervisor	Pagona Papakonstantinou (Supervisor), Paul Mc Carron (Supervisor) & Nigel Ternan (Supervisor)