Line Hagner Nielsen

Project title

Targeting nasal biofilms with in situ hydrogels

What is your project about?

13% of the population is affected by chronic sinusitis and this has a major impact on the quality of life for the patients. In the vast majority of cases of chronic sinusitis, the bacteria accumulate in the sinuses and form, what we call biofilm. The biofilms are not very susceptible to antibiotics, and this makes the infections difficult to treat, hence, this shows that new measures are needed.
In this project, I will develop a nasal spray with antibiotics. When sprayed into the nose, a gel forms in the sinuses due to the higher temperature in the nose compared to room temperature. This gel is covering the biofilm infection and antibiotics are slowly released from the gel to combat the biofilm. The developed nasal spray systems must be tested for their effect on bacteria and on biofilms, before being tested in mice. By developing this gel-forming nasal spray, we would like to achieve a more targeted and precise delivery of antibiotics directly to the biofilm in the sinuses, thereby, effectively treating the infection.

How did you become interested in your particular field of research?

My interest in drug formulations and drug delivery systems were sparked already , when I studied pharmaceutical sciences at University of Copenhagen. I think it is very exciting with all the parameters, that you can change and add excipients to achieve a much more effective medicine. I really like, when there is a clinical application in the project. For this project, it is chronic sinusitis. This means that we can measure the effect of our drug formulations and investigate, whether they have an effect on a specific disease.

What are the scientific challenges and perspectives in your project?

This project is very interdisciplinary with many different research areas involved. One of the challenges is to develop nasal sprays, that can be sprayed into the nose and actually be deposited in the sinuses. In addition, it becomes a challenge to get the gels to form a gel at the right time and at the right temperature. Furthermore, it is also challenging to build a model in mice reflecting the biofilm infection in sinusitis. I will employ two PhD students in the project, and together with a strong interdisciplinary team, we can then get all the way around the project.

What is your estimate of the impact, which your project may have to society in the long term?

I expect that the project will provide new knowledge about how we can treat biofilm infections more effectively than today, and also to learn what is needed before antibiotics are effective in combating such infections. In addition, the project will lead to knowledge about in situ gels and what is needed for these gels to be deposited in the sinuses, after they have been sprayed into the nose. The project is in an area in between drug delivery/pharmaceutical technology and clinical microbiology, where not many people are working today.

Which impact do you expect the Sapere Aude programme will have on your career as a researcher?

First of all, it is a great honor to receive a Sapere Aude: DFF Starting Grant. In addition, it will fulfill my ambition on becoming one of the leading researchers in innovative delivery systems for antibiotics for biofilm treatment. The Sapere Aude: DFF Starting grant will strengthen my research profile and also my network of possible collaboration partners in Denmark and abroad, as well as give me more management experience.

Background and personal life

I live just outside Copenhagen with my husband and our 2 girls on 2 and 4 years old. Time is short, but in our spare time we like to travel . Otherwise we like to experience nature, but also to go out to listen to concerts.