​​Meet LIAN
My name is Lian Bonnici. I have recently graduated in Medical Biochemistry at the University of
Malta and currently I am doing a PhD on chronic wound healing. When I was young, I always wanted to pursue a career in science because I am eager to learn and to discover new phenomena. During my pastime, I love to go to the gym and ride the bicycle.
Investigating the potential of novel treatment combinations to promote chronic wound healing
Chronic wounds are a type of wounds that take a long time to close. The Most common sufferers of chronic wounds include the elderly, individuals with diabetes mellitus and individuals with low
mobility. Chronic wounds are characterized by recurrent infections, exacerbated inflammation and pain. Furthermore, chronic wounds may lead to limb amputations because the healthy tissue
surrounding the wound may die and start an infection. The current treatments of chronic wounds
include dressings, antibiotics and growth factor-based treatments. However, these treatments are not efficacious and are often expensive. Therefore, my project involves the creation and
investigation of a novel combinatorial treatment that may have the potential of improving chronic
wound healing. My project is sponsored by the Tertiary Education Scholarship scheme (TESS) which without their financial help it would not be possible to carry out this project.
The Next step…
The future of this project will involve the conjunction of the novel combinatorial treatment with
either a dressing or an ointment which then can be applied directly on a chronic wound. Then, this treatment will be further investigated using animal models to further show the potential of the treatment in improving chronic wound healing.