Romania: From nature to healing: wound dressings from animal-derived materials

With global antibiotic resistance on the rise, research efforts need to be directed towards diversifying patient care. Addressing this challenge, Romanian company SPD STAR is innovating in natural antimicrobial medical gauzes and bandages with advanced regenerative properties.

Animal byproducts, such as donkey hides, rabbit skins, sheep wool and fish scales have large amounts of fibrous proteins in the form of collagen or keratin. SPD STAR realised these proteins could be harnessed to create bioactive 3D nanostructures that, used in wound dressings, promote tissue repair and regeneration.

The Eureka project gave us the opportunity to collaborate with international partners and turn our research results into concrete applications. With Eureka’s support, we developed innovative and sustainable medical dressings that can improve patients’ lives and discovered new opportunities for international collaboration.

Anamaria Moșuțiu – Quality Manager at SPD STAR

To turn this idea into reality, SPD STAR partnered with Romanian and Lithuanian organisations, the National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest (UPB), the Leather and Footwear Research Institute (ICPI), MB Biofita and the Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), in the Eureka project NonActivPans. Together, they developed technologies capable of modifying nanofibre surfaces, integrating nanostructures into material and controlling the release of bioactive compounds.

The project consortium got to work creating dressings from spinnable protein nanofibers, combining these with plant extracts, chitosan, calcium and silver, phosphorous or titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The result: a novel antimicrobial material free from adverse effects or antibiotic resistance risks.

The team at SPD STAR sensed they had fortune on their side; fish scales are often a talisman of hope and prosperity. This symbolism came to fruition: results from in vivo biocompatibility and in vitro skin regeneration testing showed a wound healing rate versus cell control increase of 149%, low or no cytotoxicity and advanced restoring properties. Beyond protecting patients from antibiotic resistant pathogens, the material is less expensive to produce than conventional petroleum-based dressings.

Eureka and the Romanian Ministry of Research of Innovation fostered trust-based international collaboration, bringing together expertise in chemistry, pharmacy, polymer processing and environmental engineering. This partnership enabled knowledge exchange and resource sharing, accelerating technology scale up, evaluation of bioactive materials in wound healing and the commercialisation of new antimicrobial medical dressings.

The Eureka project increased visibility for all partners. The team published 13 papers and participated in 19 conferences, and SPD STAR diversified its research portfolio and expanded its product range, strengthening business opportunities at national and international level. Now patented and available on the market, these wound dressings are expected to have an impact on SPD STAR’s revenue growth and job creation.

Upcycling waste materials into valuable medical resources in this way is a novelty that has been recognised in the form of medals at international exhibitions. By applying these materials to both acute and chronic wound dressings, the success of NonActivPans has the potential to reduce global dependence on antibiotics.