Joseph Hunter

Participant: PROMISE AGEP Research Symposium

Joseph Hunter

Department: Bioengineering

Institution: University of Maryland, College Park (UMD)

 

2018 ABSTRACT

Developing an in-situ sprayable antimicrobial polymer mesh as an emergency burn wound dressing

Burn wound infections are one of the most important and potentially serious complications that occur in the acute period following injury and is leading cause of mortality in burn victims. Silver has emerged as an effective universal antimicrobial agent with low risk of resistance development. These properties make silver an attractive solution to treating burn-related infections, though its clinical use has been relatively absent, exception given to a few wound dressings that utilize a passive, controlled release of silver. Though the silver dressings are effective in their antimicrobial activity, they suffer from several application-based drawbacks: (i) Require debridement. (ii) Opaque; he wound bed cannot be observed while the dressing is applied. (iii) Silver is physically bound to expensive, inelastic, non-patient-specific gauze. (iv) Silver dressings can only be applied under sterile conditions with access to running water and electricity. It appears that the silver dressings are beneficial largely because they contain silver, and all drawbacks are due to silver being restricted to a gauze application medium. Innovation from this stage would involve capitalizing upon the use of silver in early infection treatment and applying it to the wound bed through an alternative method. It has been demonstrated in our lab that silver nanoparticles can be incorporated into blowspinning solutions and be subsequently released in solution, so I demonstrate that incorporating a silver salt that dissolves in volatile solvent into a PLGA-PEG blowspinning solution will result in an in-situ sprayable antimicrobial mesh that can be used in emergency situations by first responders.

 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Joseph Hunter is a second year Masters of Science student in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He studied Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a Meyerhoff Scholar (M24). His interdisciplinary background includes researching “Cell signaling pathways and their relation to carcinogenesis” (UMDSoM) “Extracellular matrix protein hemicentin involvement in mitotic cell division” (UMDSoM) “Analysis of the plasminogen binding lysine motif of Plasmodium enolase” (Johns Hopkins) “Effects of the Benztropine Analog, AHN 2-005, Compared to d-Amphetamine, on Parameters of Food Reinforcement” (NIH/Hopkins) “Nanoscale substrata as model extracellular matrices for guiding cell phenotype” (Penn State)“Developing an in-situ sprayable bioscaffold with antimicrobial properties as an emergency burn wound dressing” (UMCP)

 

GENERAL SUMMARY OF GRADUATE RESEARCH

Joseph Hunter currently works in the Functional Materials Laboratory with Peter Kofinas, PhD. His project, “Developing an in-situ sprayable bioscaffold with antimicrobial properties as an emergency burn wound dressing,” involves innovating silver application in treating burn wound infections. Techniques involved include: Cytotoxic and Bacteriocidal Evaluation, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) & Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Sterile Technique, BSL-2 Technique, Time-Dependent Mohr Titrations. See abstract for more information.

 

SELECTED LIST OF PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

1. NIH Poster Day Event: “Effects of the Benztropine Analog, AHN 2-005, Compared to d-Amphetamine, on Parameters of Food Reinforcement”
2. Penn State Poster Day Event:“Nanoscale substrata as model extracellular matrices for guiding cell phenotype”
3. ABRCMS 2013 Poster Presenter: “Analysis of the plasminogen binding lysine motif of Plasmodium enolase”