Fighting Bacterial Wound Infections with Peptide-Containing Membranes

(EMPA, August 11, 2020)

Due to the increasingly widespread problem of antibiotic resistance, it has become vital to eliminate bacterial wound infections early on, particularly in complex wounds, as long-lasting infections may fail to heal or even spread throughout the body, leading to life-threatening blood poisoning (sepsis). In this context, a team of Empa researchers, led by Katharina Maniura, recently developed cellulose membranes equipped with antimicrobial peptides, which according to initial results, are well tolerated by human skin, but kill over 99.9% of germs in bacterial cultures. Compared to larger proteins, these multifunctional peptides are easier to produce and more stable, and according to Maniura, future peptides will be equipped with additional functions, such as “binding sites that enable the controlled release of further therapeutic substances."