Antimicrobial resistance poses a major threat to global healthcare systems. The antimicrobials that are currently available are rapidly becoming ineffective, making infections by resistant microorganisms increasingly challenging to treat. Antimicrobial resistance is expected to result in the deaths of ~10 million people by 2050, with an annual cost of ~US$ 100 trillion.1 Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of next-generation antimicrobials. However, delivery of these to infection sites such as burns, puncture wounds or injuries along with their lack of accessibility to remote and/or poor communities is a significant challenge. Traditional hydrogels (made from water) evaporate, dry out, have short shelf-lives, and do not support some antimicrobials.
We have developed a new class of antimicrobial gels for on-demand wound treatment and prevention of infection. Eutectogels are made using deep eutectic solvents and are advantageous alternatives to hydrogels as they are non-volatile and can solubilize therapeutically-relevant molecules. We have synthesized and biophysically characterized eutectogels embedded with antimicrobial nanoparticles. The antimicrobial efficacy of these gels has been tested against a number of microorganisms, with preliminary results demonstrating that our gels have more than 99% efficiency against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition to their effectiveness, these eutectogels are cheap, multi-functional, and easy to apply, making them accessible to financially disadvantaged people and those living in remote communities.