Modification of liposomic nano-carriers: a novel strategy for improved drug-delivery and eradication of bacterial biofilms

Bacterial biofilms are widespread, both as infections in humans and on devices that have come in contact with infected tissue, and pose a major health and economic burden.

Such biofilms are difficult to treat as they present strong resistance to drug delivery, due to a dense, hydrated polysaccharide/protein matrix in which the bacterial communities encase themselves, and from the bacterial membrane itself.

Liposomes stabilized by poly(ethylene glycol), PEG moieties, the current gold-standard and most commonly used means of stabilization, are versatile drug-delivery vehicles, but such PEGylation is associated with significant shortcomings, greatly reducing the efficiency of PEGylated liposomes for biofilm treatment.

Here we explore a novel strategy to improve such drug delivery and treatment of biofilms. In particular, is it effective? is it efficient?

Can it be readily applied both in vitro (for which we have some promising preliminary indications) - as for infected biomedical devices - and, crucially, in vivo? What is the IPR position for future exploitation of this new drug delivery strategy?

These questions illustrate the high-risk/high-gain nature of this proposal, and are systematically addressed in this proposal through several inter-related work packages.

Success of our project in demonstrating that our novel drug-encapsulating vehicles can efficiently treat and eradicate bacterial biofilm infections would not only have benefits affecting large populations, but also tap into a large drug-delivery market.