A novel technology that could revolutionise treatment

Jointly led by Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and Associate Professor Lisa Pilkington in the School of Chemical Sciences, the project has been developed from the ground up through an interdisciplinary collaboration of chemists, biologists and engineers.

“The underlying chemistry is that we can provide certain voltages that should allow for the controlled release of particular drugs on demand,” says Lisa, “but it can also offer electrical stimulation to promote wound healing.”

Not that researchers started out with that goal in mind. “We had the technology before we had the application,” says Lisa, referring to the fact that Jadranka had been investigating strategies to selectively capture biological entities on porous substances as far back as 2019.

The change of focus came in 2022 when PhD student Jingwen (Kourtney) Yang began to make some new fibres in Jadranka’s lab and then conducted experiments under the watchful eye of biology supervisors Professor Anthony Phillips and Dr Jiwon Hong.

Having performed all of the experimental work related to the adaptation of the previous ‘capture-release’ system to one that is used for wound healing, Lisa says that Kourtney’s contribution “cannot be overstated”.

Included among Kourtney’s challenging scientific milestones was the creation of flexible fibre ‘mats’ able to be coated with a conducting polymer, chemically adapting and then ‘capturing’ a drug onto the fibre mats, and developing strategies for the controlled ‘release’ of the drug through application of an electrochemical potential.

“The ‘wow’ moment for Jadranka and me was more the mechanism of action, the how it does it,” says Lisa. “And then we’re thinking about, how can this be applied and what could this be useful for?” 

Kourtney’s experiments were conducted with scratch assays on mouse cells, and found that wound closure was significantly enhanced on Day two for an electrochemically-released drug group compared with a control group without drugs (78.26% vs 55.9%).

“This is the proof of concept stage,” says Jadranka, who says that several academic publications on the research will be required, along with further animal model studies, and that a “significant gap” exists in the progression toward having a marketable product.

Using a smart wound device to heal the chronic wounds caused by diabetic ulcers is one possibility, given that they cost thousands of dollars per patient every year to treat and have become a big health burden for sufferers and hospitals.

“There is obviously a market for that, because chronic wounds are super difficult for people and super expensive to treat – and they are long-term wounds,” says Jadranka. “There is a real need for devices like these.”

The key to the potential efficacy of the device is the dual function of timely drug delivery and electrical stimulation, with the added bonus that the surface appears to have anti-fouling or antibacterial properties.

“A single function for wound healing is not enough,” says Kourtney. “So we think the dual function system is much more helpful for healing chronic wounds.”

And because the dressing is electro-chemically active, it would need some sort of power pack. “It’s a smart dressing that does need power and an energy storage device to go with it,” says Jadranka.

Being ‘smart’ also means that it has to be programmable to have control over the drug release and the electrical stimulation. “You can write a protocol in the small chip on your device which will tell your device what to do. It’s smart in that sense.”

Beyond that, Jadranka says there’s also potential to incorporate sensors – possibly assisted by AI – that could detect some biomarkers about the state of the wound to perhaps indicate whether it is inflamed so that the device can react to that.

Ultimately, Lisa says that she’d love to provide some bespoke wound dressing programs or protocols depending on the wound type.

“You could essentially respond to what the wound condition is and then provide the right stimulation, provide the right sort of drugs at the time that it’s most needed and most effectual.”

While Jadranka’s early research was supported by an MBIE Smart Ideas grant, the smart wound-healing project has been funded from departmental operating expenses and Lisa says they’re now at something of “an inflection point” in terms of future funding if they want to scale up.

“We’ve got something that we really believe in and we can show that it works,” she says. “We’ve got the proof of concept, but we would need to secure more advanced funding because anything from now on starts to become a very expensive process.”

And while Lisa says that her role has been about making the “building blocks” for the system, Jadranka has brought complementary skills as a materials chemist with expertise in chemical engineering – and a strong focus on applications.

“Applications are always in my mind when we share projects in my group, they have to have some ideas that could be useful,” she says.

It’s also about “really pushing the boundaries” at the intersection of a new trend toward bioelectronics or electroceu­ticals. And while the project is still in its early stages, Lisa says “it’s something that we’re really passionate about and I think there’s real potential”.

Being part of a cutting-edge research project with global potential is a dream come true for PhD chemistry student Jingwen (Kourtney) Yang, who graduated from the South China Agricultural University with a Master of Food Engineering before coming to the University of Auckland to complete her education.

“It’s not just about working with new materials or developing technologies for wound healing, it’s more about pushing boundaries and solving real-world problems. I feel proud knowing that the work I do in the lab might one day make a difference in people’s lives.”

Not that her time at Auckland has been plain sailing. There were some moments when she “felt overwhelmed” using technologies like electrospinning, chemical synthesis, and electrochemistry that were all absolutely new to her.

“It was a steep learning curve, but it pushed me to grow. I spent long hours reading, experimenting, troubleshooting, and asking questions. Problem solving became part of my daily routine, not just for the experiments, but for navigating new fields one by one that were so new to me.”

Moving from China to New Zealand added yet another layer of challenge and growth, not only having to present complex research in English, but also competing for funding as an international student – something which required more initiative, especially for an interdisciplinary project that sits between chemistry, engineering and medicine.

“In China, the education system tends to be more rigid, with a clear hierarchy in research teams. Here in New Zealand, I found a more open and collaborative environment, where independent thinking is strongly encouraged.”

Nevertheless, she says the challenges have made her stronger and more resilient – and more capable than she had ever imagined. “I hope my story encourages other students to step outside their comfort zones too. Because that’s exactly where the most meaningful growth begins.”