Center for Wound Biofilm Research

Bacteria are not just incidental opportunists in the wound, they are grouped together in multicellular communities—biofilm—which pose a major barrier to wound healing.

A polymicrobial biofilm infection (yellow) forms in the wound. Because of the small size of bacteria and the fact that biofilms are often trans-lucent, the presence of biofilm is difficult to discern without microscopic methods. The infection persists because microorganisms in biofilms are protected from killing by systemic antibiotics, topical antiseptics, and from the manifold components of the host defenses, including leukocytes.

Oxygen is locally depleted by the concerted respiration of biofilm microorganisms.

This and other unidentified changes in wound biochemistry

Overview of NIH P-20 Grant

by Tracy Ellig, MSU News Services

Researchers at the CBE have embarked on a quest to find new ways to heal chronic wounds, thanks to a $2.9 million grant awarded in the fall of 2006 by the National Institutes of Health. The 4-year grant allows the CBE to fund undergraduate research, hire more doctoral-level researchers, and purchase equipment for its investigation into the role biofilms play in chronic wounds.

The incidence of chronic wounds in the United States has grown drastically. That trend is expected to continue with the steady increase in adult and child obesity. One-in-three Americans born in 2000 are expected to develop diabetes if current trends continue, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For diabetics, chronic wounds contribute to a foot or lower-leg amputation rate 10 to 15 times higher than for non-diabetics. Eighty percent of diabetics who underwent amputation for chronic wounds died within five years, according to a Finnish study.

The CBE’s research into chronic wounds began two years ago after the center was contacted by Dr. Randy Wolcott, who heads the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center in Lubbock, Texas. With his clinic treating up to 100 patients daily, Wolcott suspected biofilms might play a role in his patients’ persistent wounds. Tissue samples analyzed by the CBE from Wolcott’s clinic revealed that 60 percent contained biofilms, compared with a mere 6 percent in acute wounds, such as cuts. The grant is in partnership with Wolcott, who offers an important clinical perspective, and the Division of Dermatology at the University of Washington’s Department of Medicine, which brings expertise in the biology of wound healing to the project.

Project Team

These are the five key investigators in the Chronic Wound project. From left, are: Phil Fleckman, MD, and John Olerud, MD, UW School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Dermatology; Phil Stewart and Garth James, MSU-CBE. At far right is Randy Wolcott, MD, head of the Southwest Regional Wound Care Center.

CBE member companies with an interest in wound care

3M

Convatec

Tyco Healthcare

Mölnlycke

enturia

Glanbia

NitricBio

Invitation to partner with CBE on this project

The NIH chronic wound biofilm grant is intended to foster close collaboration between CBE researchers and industry. Products designed to promote wound healing through biofilm control can be tested under standard protocols in CBE labs, and companies can participate in the CBE’s Industrial Associates program. To learn more about these opportunities for interaction, please contact Paul Sturman or Garth James.


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2007 Initiative:

Opportunities for Industrial Participation in NIH Grant