Project title: Antimicrobial formulation and functionalization of photosensitizers for antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT)
Employer: University of Limoges (UNILIM, France), Cotutelle: Trinity College of Dublin (TCD, Ireland)
Supervisors: Pr Vincent SOL (UNILIM), Prof Dr. Mathias O. SENGE (TCD)
Research secondments: INSERM (UMR 1092, Limoges), Biolitec
Practical rotation: Selvita
Research project description and main objectives: One main issue of the POLYTHEA project is to develop photosensitizing dyes and their formulations which can be used in a modular fashion for a variety of biomedical applications particularly for antimicrobial applications within the consortium.
This project will focus on the design, synthesis of photosensitizers (PS) and their different formulations (with polymers, biopolymers,…) for antimicrobial applications. The best polymers/PS pair will be selected on the basis of photodynamic properties, biocompatibility and stability of bactericidal material, PS repartition in the formulation and in vitro bactericidal effect on planktonic bacteria cells or on bacterial biofilm.
The main objective of this project is providing new formulations of PS, which will allow practical application in various fields such as food safety, self-sterilizing surface, medical materials. Moreover, this study will afford further insight into the photodynamic process of bacteria killing.
The project is divided into three parts:
1) Design, synthesis and characterizations of PS for photodynamic therapy antimicrobial applications
2) Formulation and characterization of these PS/polymers complexes
3) Microbiological evaluation of these formulations against planktonic bacterial cells and bacterial biofilm.
Bhavya’s publications:
- H. C. Sample, G. Emandi, B. Twamley, N.Grover, B. Khurana, V. Sol, M.O. Senge, Synthesis and Properties of BODIPY Appended Tetraphenylethylene Scaffolds as Photoactive Arrays, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2021, DOI: 10.1002/ejoc.202100629
- N. Grover, G. Emandi, B. Twamley, B. Khurana, V. Sol, M.O. Senge, Synthesis and structure of meso-Substituted |20π] – Dibenzihomoporphyrins, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202001165
- B. Khurana, P. Gierlich, A. Meindl, L. C. Gomes-da-Silva and M. O. Senge, Hydrogels: soft matters in photomedicine, Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, 2019, DOI: 10.1039/C9PP00221A
Links:
- Bhavya’s communication for Doctoral School 614 PhD day: http://www.u-ldevinci.fr/cega/ed-theodore-monod/doctorant-e-s-a-la-une/2019-2/rencontres-doctorale
- Bhavya’s covid-19 interview:
- Bhavya presented her work to the PDT-PDD Nancy 2020 virtual conference on November 5th, 2020
- Bhavya participated to the Research Executive Agency video challenge
- Bhavya won a prize at the IPA photo contest