Altai State University scientists have developed a film with antimicrobial properties for skin restoration

The project, supported by an intra-university grant, entitled "Development of a functional cell scaffold based on a biologically compatible hydrogel for use in regenerative medicine" was headed by researcher at the Research Institute of Biological Medicine Ruslan Halimov.

The laboratory team is engaged in research in the field of restoring damaged tissues by activating the patient's cells or introducing cells obtained in laboratory conditions in his or her body. In particular, scientists explain that a small tissue sample is taken from a surviving skin area from a person who has received burns on a large surface of the body. Individual cells are isolated from a given sample, and these cells are grown outside the body in laboratory conditions in large amount. After that, the resulting material is transferred back to the surface of the burn and it regenerates the skin "in an accelerated mode."

“As part of the project, we have developed a carrier gel for skin cell transplantation. Such substances are called "scaffolds" (from the English "frame"). Today, this is one of the main directions in the development of regenerative medicine,” explains Ruslan Halimov. “We have developed several scaffolds based on biopolymers - chitosan and collagen. In their finished form, they are a gel, in this case, an airgel film, which is to be injected into the damaged tissue, for example, a wound lumen. We improved these scaffolds by introducing microparticles of metal compounds, which made it possible to give them functional properties, namely, a synergistic antimicrobial effect that exceeds that of metals and biopolymers separately, as well as antifungal activity against fungal strains resistant to the traditional antifungal agent, amphotericin. Since antibiotic resistance is a serious challenge to modern healthcare, we can safely talk about serious prospects for the use of the composition we have developed."

Ruslan clarified that the safety of the developed compositions for human skin cell cultures has already been confirmed in cell cultures. Currently, scientists are developing a full-fledged biomedical cell product based on the obtained scaffolds and fibroblasts of human skin. This product will be tested in laboratory animals to evaluate its effectiveness in wound and burn healing. The team of the Research Institute of Biomedicine of Altai State University has been engaged in research in the field of regenerative medicine for several years, and in 2019 they received a patent for the author's technique for modeling burns in animals, which scientists plan to use in the development of a biomedical cell product.

It is worth noting that the research team of Altai State University has already patented the methods of obtaining and using the carrier gel with the aim to further commercialize the project.