[AVX Seminar] Tailoring antimicrobial peptides to tackle medical device-associated infections and/or chronically infected wounds

Title: Tailoring antimicrobial peptides to tackle medical device-associated infections and/or chronically infected wounds

Speaker: Paula Gomes

Affiliation: LAQV-REQUIMTE | Universidade do Porto

Abstract: With the increase of life expectancy, the risk of infections related to medical devices and/or chronic wounds typical of the elderly, is raising dramatically. Current treatment and prophylaxis of medical device-associated infections are based on systemic and/or local administration of classical antibiotics, and medical device removal in the case of confirmed persistent infection; this is a heavy burden, especially because bacterial resistance to current antibiotics is now widespread [1]. The scenario is similar for chronically infected wounds, particularly those more common to the elderly or bedridden, like venous leg ulcers, pressure ulcers or diabetic foot ulcers [2]. These are major causes for concern, as the decline in the effectiveness of current antibiotic therapies leads to poor prognosis when persistent infection is installed, especially for people with age-aggravated conditions like immune system deficiency, diabetes, venous insufficiency, or osteoarticular impairment, among others. The search for new kinds of antimicrobial agents has been an active field of research for the past decades, but is now becoming a matter of urgency, due to the increasing prevalence of multi-drug resistant pathogens. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are amongst the most promising agents to tackle this terrible menace [3,4]. This talk will make a brief overview of what is being done in this regard in our lab, taking advantage of our state-of-the-art instrumentation for chemical synthesis of peptides and peptide-nucleic acids.