Antibacterial agents derived from chemically modified bacterial cellulose

Cellulose as the most abundant natural polymer is produced is produced by trees, and some microorganisms. Certain types of aerobic bacteria such as Gluconacetobacter xylinus are able to biosynthesize a unique extracellular form of this polysaccharide, known as bacterial cellulose (BC). However, Similar to other nanocelluloses, BC exhibits properties such as insolubility in common solvents and lack of antibacterial activity, which are not favorable. To improve or promote these characteristics, the chemical (e.g. surface functionalization) and physical modifications (e.g. change in porosity, crystallinity and fiber density) of cellulose by in situ and ex situ methods are required. Relying on these modifications, a common approach to endow the BC materials with antibacterial properties is physically adsorbing or chemically conjugating organic or inorganic antimicrobial agents on them. However, chemically conjugated composites show extremely long-term antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Considering all these points, the objective of present research is to develop highly efficient antibacterial BC-based composites via chemical modifications and explore their capabilities for biomedical applications (e.g. drug delivery, wound dressing, drug carriers).

Faculty Supervisor:

Theo van de Ven

Student:

Partner:

Amirkabir University of Technology

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

McGill University

Program: