猎奇重口

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Serban Lab

Our Research

The central theme of the Serban Lab research is biomaterials-based biomedical applications. Projects primarily target ear therapeutics and surgical adhesives development but span across several biomedical application. Some of our areas of interest are listed below. 
 
 

Slow-release antibacterial system for otic therapeutics

Ear infections are a commonly occurring problem that can affect people of all ages. Treatment of these pathologies usually includes the administration of topical or systemic antibiotics, depending on the location of the infection. Otitis externa (OE, outer ear infections) can have various etiologies. However, bacterial infections (typically attributable to Pseudomonas aeruginosa or Staphylococcus aureus) account for approximately 98% of all cases. OE treatment regimes prescribe topical analgesics, locally acidifying solutions (2% acetic acid) and/or antibiotic eardrops. Topical antibiotic drops are preferred to their oral counterparts as the therapeutic is delivered directly to the infected tissue. Still, they require multiple daily applications over 7-10 days, and studies show that only 40% of patients who self-medicate do so appropriately with the effectiveness of the therapy increasing when someone else other than the patient applies the drops. In this context, we seek to evaluated the feasibility of a single-application slow-releasing therapeutic formulation of an antibiotic for the treatment of otitis externa. Our in vitro evaluations conducted so far, reflective of therapeutic ease of administration, formulation stability, cytocompatibility assessment, antibacterial efficacy, and formulation lifespan, indicate that our developed formulations, based on thixotropic, antibiotic releasing materials are promising for development as otic therapeutics for both human and veterinary applications.

Silk-based tissue sealant for seroma prevention

A seroma is defined as a pocket of fluid accumulation when tissues have been separated surgically. The incidence of seroma correlates with procedures that disrupt large amounts of tissue, such as hernia repair or abdominoplasty. Preventive and therapeutic measures include placement of surgical drains at the site of the incision. However, this procedure increases the risk of infection and extends healing time. Our project is aimed at investigating silk fibroin adhesives as a potential prophylactic for seroma. This would be achieved by engineering a device that would adhere/bridge the separated tissue planes, thus preventing shear friction and fluid accumulation between them and accelerating tissue regeneration. Our preliminary data indicates that silk fibroin elicits tissue adhesive properties and that they are dependent on silk solution concentration, pH and overall tertiary structure of the protein. 

Silk-fibroin based wound healing devices

Our goal is to engineer an adhesive acellular wound healing device based on silk fibroin (SF) and hyaluronan (HA) that would be self-immobilizing and regenerative for full thickness wounds. Our preliminary data show that: (a) lyophilized foam-like SF sheets (SF foams) have skin-like feel, coloration and texture when layered on skin – suggesting that SF foams may be suitable as cutaneous healing devices; (b) the surface of SF foams is micro-porous – which may impart moisture retention properties needed for wound healing; (c) thin films of physically uncrosslinked SF have adhesive properties - suggesting that tissue adherent, self-fixing constructs may be formulated with no added chemicals or biomaterials; and (e) the cytocompatibility of SF constructs improves with the addition of HA – indicating that this parameter may be tailored for optimal wound healing and tissue compatibility.