Doctoral Themes - Proposals

(Photo)Active Ionic Liquids based on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines: a new Approach in Microbial (Photo)Inactivation (MicrobMultiKill)

Supervisors

Bernardo Monteiro, bernardo.monteiro@ctn.tecnico.ulisboa.pt

João Tomé, jtome@tecnico.ulisboa.pt

Registration Institution

Instituto Superior Técnico (Universidade de Lisboa)

Project description

Microbial-resistant pathogens are rapidly increasing and developing resistance to almost all available antimicrobial agents, being a serious public health problem. In addition, around 80% of microbial infections in humans are biofilm-mediated, and the most resistant ones are frequently propagated at the hospitals.

In terms of phytopathogenicity, bacteria and fungi are responsible for a wide spectrum of plant diseases and are responsible for high amounts of crop losses, leading not only to great economic losses but also threatening food supplies to many populations.

For the above reasons, the application of photoactive porphyrin and phthalocyanine derivatives as photosensitizers (PSs) in photodynamic inactivation (PDI) of bacteria and fungi, including multidrug resistant strains, have witness an increased interest.

The main aim of this project is to prepare new PSs and combine, in a synergistic way, their photosensitizing properties with the antimicrobial activity of ionic liquids (ILs). This will definitely improve the PDI efficacy of this type of compounds, not only the active cationic ones but also enabling neutral and anionic PSs structures to be used as efficient PSs in PDI. The prepared compounds in this work will be tested against pathogenic and phytopathogenic bacteria and fungi. Concerning biosafety, testes against models of Bacillus anthracis spores will be also considered.

Keywords

Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines; Ionic-Liquids; Bacteria and fungi; Microbial photodynamic inactivation; Photosensitizers

Societal Challenges

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

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