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The LactoAid

A smart bandage for burnwounds

Beside nisin the L. lactis will be able to produce the infection preventing molecules (IPMs) AiiA and DspB. AiiA will disrupt the communication mechanism of the harmful bacteria, this way the bacteria will not cause any trouble because it 'thinks' it is alone. DspB is a molecule that prevents the harmful bacteria to form a layer (biofilm) on the wound. Additionally we want to try to make the bandage 'active' (producing nisin, DspB and AiiA) only when harmful bacteria are present in the wound. The bandage targets Staphyolococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa specifically, two bacteria that are a problem in burn wound centres.

The design of the bandage is important as well. L. lactis should not be able to get out of the bandage, but the IPMs should be able to reach the wound (See figure 2). Besides containing L. lactis the bandage should allow sufficient oxygen to reach the wound.

Finally, the whole package needs to be able to be stored for quite a while and still work. Therefore L. lactis will be stored as a powder and can be activated with water when the bandage is needed.

We are also investigating the possibilities of having L. lactis produce growth factors to aid in wound healing and to link the detection to the production of a chromoprotein to show when the bandage detects harmful bacteria.