Winter 24/25 Newsletter

Dear colleagues and friends of the CRMD,

The end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 have been marked by many achievements.

First of all, it was rewarding to see our Centre attract the interest of colleagues in our research and who have successfully applied to become CRMD members.

We would like to welcome:

• Dr Richard Akele and Dr Annamaria Gal who will contribute to our research with their expertise in tissue microenvironments, with particular focus on immunology in tumour microenvironments and on the development of related in vitro clinically-reflective organoids.
• Dr Ian Cooper who will contribute to our research with his expertise in microbiology, particularly focussing on device-related infections and the development of new anti-microbial surface coatings and nanosize materials designed to be alternative antimicrobial agents or nanocarriers for antimicrobials in regenerative medicine applications.
• Prof Peter Cragg, who will add a new dimension to our research in computer modelling by making available his expertise in molecular modelling, particularly in relation to the development of aptamers for biorecognition.

Highlights of the last few months of activity have been the papers published by the collaborative efforts of members of our Centre:

• Saberianpour, S., Melotto, G., Redhead, L., Terrazzini, N., Forss, R. & Santin, M. 2024. Harnessing the interactions of wound exudate cells with dressings biomaterials for the control and prognosis of healing pathways. Pharmaceutics. 17, 9, 19 p., 1111.
• Melotto, G., Sinha, A., Forss, R., 2024, Exploring exudate viscosity: A rheological analysis of wound exudates. Wound Repair and Regeneration. 32, 5, p. 671-674.
• Harris, P., Venton, J. 2025. A Model of the Deformations of a Cross-Section of the Spinal Cord Due to Periodic Pressure Loadings. Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences. 8 p.
• Tansley, J., Miche, N., Bernagozzi, M., Cahill, S., Georgoulas, A., Santin, M., Forss, R. Gravity effects on lower limb perfusion observed during a series of parabolic flights. 2025 Acta Astronautica. 229, p. 286-296
• Sinha, A., Georgoulas, A., Crua, C., Saberianpour, S., Sarker, D., Forss, R., Santin, M. 2025. Exploring exudate absorption via sessile droplet dynamics in porous wound dressings. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. 163, 111408.
• Saberianpour, S., Melotto, G., Forss, R., Redhead, L., Sandeman, S., Terrazzini, N., Sarker, D. & Santin, M. 2025. A systematic in vitro study of the effect of normoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic conditions on the biochemical and cellular interactions of clinically-available wound dressings with different physicochemical properties. PLoS ONE. 20, 1, p. 1-19 19 p., e0317258.

CRMD science dissemination activities have been marked by the workshop on Wound Care that we hosted at the beginning of December. The plenary lecture was delivered by Dr David Karuri, who shared his clinical experience in Kenya. The meeting programme focussed on the dissemination of the data collected during the first two years of the EPSRC project MyDress. The project has recently completed a clinical study on clinically-available wound dressings and on experimental and computational studies of fluid penetration within dressings with different physicochemical properties. Data have already been published in some of the peer-reviewed papers listed above. The workshop ended with a round table moderated by Prof Susan Sandeman and attended by the members of the Independent Advisory Board of the EPSRC project. Over 60 delegates registered for the event.

The international profile of our Centre was extended to Africa. During the first week of December we were honored by the visit of Dr Lucy Musyoka (Ministry of Health, Department for Non-communicable Diseases and Cancer, Government of Kenya) Prof Joachim Osur (Vice-Chancellor, AMREF University, Nairobi) and Dr David Karuri (Kenyan Society of Surgeons). Meetings with members of the University Executive Board and with CRMD members opened avenues for future collaborations; watch this space!

We were glad to see many undergraduate and post-graduate research students being involved in our main research projects on Artificial Intelligence applications to wound care and to the development of new biomaterials. During the last meeting, the CRMD Management Board has deliberated to invest further in our students by providing our PhD students with financial support for this academic year.

CRMD has also new social media presence on LinkedIn and BlueSky. Please follow us and encourage others to do the same.

Finally, in December we received the excellent news that the European Commission has granted a new 3.5 years project, INJECTHEAL in which a research team led by Prof Santin in collaboration with Dr Cooper, Dr Saberianpour and Dr Terrazzini will develop new nanocarriers for antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agents to be combined to injectable hydrogels for deep tunnel wounds. The total value of the project exceeds €7.299M and the budget available to our Centre will exceed €1 101M. We look forward to this new exciting project that is due to start in May 2025.

On behalf of the CRMD Management Board

Prof Matteo Santin, PhD, Director