Wound management is an ongoing challenge for medical research. An ideal dressing should promote rapid healing with minimal inconvenience to the patient. In particular, it should be biocompatible and capable of removing excessive exudate, reducing inflammation, protecting against microbial agents, and maintaining adequate moisture for healing. All these aspects can be successfully fulfilled by curdlan and its derivatives. Curdlan, a neutral bacterial polysaccharide with a linear structure, is known to be non-toxic, biocompatible, and exhibits anti-infective activity, as well as the ability to support wound healing.

   In this context, the novelty of the project lies in developing a bilayer device to protect and treat wounds. The first layer will be a hydrogel obtained by cross-linking techniques of the curdlan derivative with quaternary ammonium groups, and the second layer will be a nanofibers membrane obtained by the electrospinning technique of curdlan phosphate. To facilitate wound healing/protection, the first layer of the new device will provide antimicrobial protection, easily adsorb exudate, and gradually release an anti-inflammatory drug, while the second layer will provide hydrophobicity and protect the wound from possible pathogenic agents. The device will be evaluated and validated in terms of both physicochemical properties and biological response.