The overall objective is to develop a connected dressing, including sensors to monitor in real time the
biological parameters indicative of an infection or poor wound healing and a stimuli-responsive
hydrogel loaded with drugs that can be released on demand. The project is motivated by a
particularly acute therapeutic need in the Zone and by a well-developed industrial fabric that will be
able to economically exploit the results.
Indeed, the Hauts-de-France region has the highest prevalence in metropolitan France with a rate of
6.2%. In 2020, 6.6% of the Belgian population had a known diagnosis of diabetes. The prevalence of
diabetes is higher in Wallonia (8%) than in Flanders (6%), and it is higher among people with lower
socioeconomic status. The prevalence of diabetes increases over time due to population aging and
obesity (30% increase from 2007 to 2020).
Diabetes is a chronic disease that facilitates the installation of infected lesions and leads to the
development of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), the most common, disabling and costly complications of
diabetes (leading to amputation in 21% of cases).
In this context, the scientific community is striving to find new treatments such as antimicrobial
agent delivery systems with local administration that would increase the amount of active ingredient
directly in the wound without toxic effect on the body. It is therefore important to detect in real time
biological signals indicating a healing defect using a connected dressing to trigger a therapeutic
action. At present, there are only dressings on the market with passive release of active molecules
and without monitoring of biological parameters. In this project, we propose to integrate into the
dressing of the sensors AND a stimulable hydrogel allowing the triggering of the release of active
ingredients (anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, ....) encapsulated in it. The interest is to deliver the
active molecules only when necessary. This helps fight against multi-resistance bacteria, reduce side
effects, improve healing and reduce the frequency of dressing changes.
In addition to the obvious long-term benefits for patients and Public Health, this type of innovative
dressings is of great commercial interest to the many companies in the sector located in the Zone.
The project is ambitious and concerns the entire area. Not all skills are gathered in the same region
and we have therefore built a cross-border consortium with partners with complementary expertise
that can be summarized as follows:
The Pôle Lillois is specialized in diabetes (Centre National de Médecine de Précision des Diabètes
(PRECIDIAB )). ULille is an expert in systems for the release by external stimuli of drugs encapsulated
in hydrogels. In particular, the release of drugs by dynamic and thermal phototherapy. ULille will also
be in charge of preclinical tests that will validate the developed dressings. In addition, Lille University
Hospital will bring its clinical expertise to direct developments towards a practical solution.
UMons (project leader) have expertise in the development and characterization of chemical sensors
for sensor production. MaNo brings recognized expertise in the field of biocompatible polymers for
various uses in the medical or pharmaceutical field.
Multitel is a Walloon research centre recognised in particular in the field of connected embedded
systems and will be responsible for electronics, data processing and communication.
West Flanders is historically a highly developed centre of the technical textiles industry and
Centexbel (departments in Flanders) and UGent are references in the field of smart textiles.
Eurasanté as a specialized economic development agency serving the health sector and the
development of the territory brings its expertise in the hook of the many local companies of the three
regions or multinationals. To ensure the practical validity of the project and the dissemination of the
results, the project associates the Diabetes League and the Jolimont Hospital.
At the end of the project, connected dressing demonstrators will be made with methods transferable
to companies in the field of dressings and Medtech.
The final beneficiaries are companies (large and small) in the Zone, hospitals and health centres and
the scientific community.