EMPA’s antimicrobial peptides shield against virus

The research team at EMPA has developed a membrane that has been treated with antimicrobial peptides that could effectively provide a shield against bacterial infections such as staphylococci.

The textile-based membrane is skin-friendly and has been developed using electrospinning technology. Fibers with diameters less than one micrometer are procured to yield delicate and multi-layered three-dimensional textiles.

Katharina Muniura, the team leader of EMPA in St. Gallen stated these multi-layered fabrics hold huge potential in treating bacterial infections and could be adopted to treat minor wounds to reduce the chances of an infection.

This form of textile innovation has gained high importance, as infections such as staphylococci have grown resistant to conventional treatments.

The research team suggests that the integration of multifunctional peptides that bind to cellulose fibers and showcase antimicrobial properties are more advantageous when compared to other, larger proteins in this venture. This is true because they are easier to produce and have higher levels of stability over other proteins that react more sensitively to the chemical conditions in a wound.

The cell culture experiment inferred that the peptide-containing membranes were tolerated by human skin cells. This cellulose membrane also ensured the end for bacterial life such as staphylococci which is commonly found in poorly healing wounds.

Maniura, concluded that over 99.99% of the germs were killed by the peptide-containing membranes in the bacterial culture.