OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT

Dairy activity is vital for the European economy, producing almost a quarter of the world's available milk. Bovine mastitis (BM) is a widespread disease that affects dairy cows and causes significant economic losses in the industry worldwide. The current method of controlling BM is through antibiotic therapies. However, these treatments are often ineffective due to acquired drug resistance and the survival strategies of bacteria. In order to combat this issue, new therapeutic approaches are needed. That's why this research project proposes using smart nanogels (NGs) to deliver antimicrobial agents directly into the bovine udder for BM prophylactic treatment. The overall goal of this project is to synthesize a library of NGs that can effectively encapsulate antimicrobial cargos and have tissue-adhesive capabilities to increase their residence time in the bovine udder. NGs are also expected to (i) trigger cargo release upon the infection environment, (ii) ability to promote internalization into host cells to kill intracellular bacteria, and (iii)the ability to avoid bacterial biofilm formation. By conferring at least one of these features, we expect to develop a novel therapy that effectively reduces bacterial resistant development and optimizes antimicrobial use. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N° 896775.