Hi Reddit, we’re the biophysical chemistry group at the University of Bath. We work to create smarter medical devices, like wound dressings that change colour when they detect infections. Ask Us Anything!

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Hello, we are the Biophysical Chemistry research group at the University of Bath in the UK. We work on creating and modifying medical devices including wound dressings and catheters to make them smarter: by detecting bacterial infection and by releasing antimicrobials following a trigger relating to the presence of infection.

Wound infections are a big problem and often hard to diagnose – meaning time is lost and often antibiotics are wasted.

We want to improve infection diagnosis – so patients with infections receive faster and better care. We also want to prevent treatment of patients who do not actually have a bacterial infection, which should mean fewer antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily. This will save money and ameliorate side effects of antibiotic usage by slowing evolution of antibiotic resistance.

Our clinical focus is on wounds, and especially small burn wounds in children, in collaboration with the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. We are also becoming interested in chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers. We have a further research focus on bladder infection, especially catheter associated urinary tract infections. We have created prototype wound dressings and urinary catheters which can signal early stage infection by changing colour and glowing fluorescently and start to ‘self-treat’.

This afternoon, answering questions will be Toby Jenkins, Professor of Biophysical Chemistry, Dr Naing Tun Thet – scientific lead on wound dressing project, Scarlet Milo, Hollie Hathaway, Laura Wallace and Lauren Gwynne who are Ph.D. students working on creating triggered antimicrobial release devices.

Ask us anything but please remember we’re not medical doctors so can’t comment on individual symptoms and diagnoses!

">Hi Reddit, we’re the biophysical chemistry group at the University of Bath. We work to create smarter medical devices, like wound dressings that change colour when they detect infections. Ask Us Anything!