Development of an Electrospun Antimicrobial Coated Tampon for Management of Bacterial Vaginosis Biofilm

女性阴道有自己的先天防御系统，包括天然微生物群、阴道上皮和包括乳铁蛋白在内的蛋白质，这些蛋白质有助于管理健康的微生物群。在这个项目中，我们关注的是当这种平衡出现问题时会发生什么。细菌性阴道病（BV）是一种常见的阴道感染，在英国，三分之一的绝经前妇女在生命的某个阶段患有细菌性阴道病。阴道内治疗在月经期间可能会受到阻碍，如果治疗不有效，细菌性阴道炎通常会在几周内复发。该项目的目的是通过开发和测试新的生物材料来管理细菌性阴道病。学生将受益于材料加工（静电纺丝）、材料物理化学表征和使用生物工程组织模型测量抗菌功效等领域的培训。该博士项目将受到跨学科的监督，学生将接受三个部门的培训：布拉德福德大学（UoB）的生物医学工程（BME），皮肤科学中心（CSS）和制药工程科学中心（CPES）。作为该奖项的工业合作伙伴，Virustatic有限公司也将提供监督和培训。

The female vaginal tract has its own innate defence system that involves the natural microbiota, the vaginal epithelium and proteins including lactoferrin that help manage a healthy microbiome. In this project we are concerned with what happens when things go wrong with this balance. Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common vaginal infection with 1 in 3 pre-menopausal women in the UK suffering from BV at some point in their life. Intravaginal treatment can be impeded during menstruation and BV can often recur within a few weeks if not treated effectively. The aim of this project is to manage bacterial vaginosis through the development and testing of novel biomaterials. The student will benefit from training in the areas of materials processing (electrospinning), materials physicochemical characterisation and measuring anti-microbial efficacy using bioengineered tissue models. This PhD project will be supervised across disciplines and the student will receive training from 3 departments: Biomedical Engineering (BME), the Centre for Skin Sciences (CSS) and the Centre of Pharmaceutical Engineering Science (CPES) within the University of Bradford (UoB). Supervision and training will also be provided by Virustatic Ltd as industrial partner in the award.