Research Projects

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a disease that causes high blood glucose levels all the time. This happens because of problems with insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The pancreas produces and releases insulin, which works like a key to let glucose from the food we eat move from the bloodstream into the body's cells, where it is used for generating energy. Hyperglycaemia is a condition when the body fails to produce or use insulin properly, causing blood glucose levels to rise. Diabetics are more likely to have complications with the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys, nerves, teeth, and gums most commonly effected. According to the current 11th edition's findings of International diabetes federation Atlas (2025), diabetes is one of the 21st century's fastest-growing worldwide health issues. An estimated 589 million persons between the ages of 20-79 had diabetes and 1.9 million children and adolescents under the age of 20 had type 1 diabetes, out of a total of 9.5 million individuals. By 2050, it's expected 853 million people worldwide will have diabetes. A large and growing section of the population is at high risk of getting diabetes. Reportedly 488 million people had impaired fasting glucose and 635 million had impaired glucose tolerance in 2024. Additionally, over 3.4 million deaths in 2024 were estimated to be related to diabetes (Global Direct Health Expenditure on Diabetes, 2024). For the first time direct health costs associated with diabetes surpassed $1 trillion USD, and these costs are expected to rise in the future. This burden clearly outlines diabetes and its associated complications as pressing global concerns. Type 2 DM is associated with several potential comorbidities; chief one among them is impaired wound healing. Wound healing proceeds via 4 successive highly orchestrated steps: (a) hemostasis; (b) inflammation; (c) proliferation, and (d) maturation. It is initiated by releasing cytokines, assorted growth factors in the wound area. DM affects all the four steps, leading to delayed healing and/or establishment of chronic wounds. Present treatments encompass stem cell/growth factors that are known to have severe side effects, with long term efficacy undetermined. Use of natural polymers with known plant extract/molecule in nanocomposite form for wound management will therefore have an edge over individual components as nanosizing is considered one of the promising ways to promote the efficacy and overcome limitations like target release, bioavailability, efficiency, degradation, etc. Incorporation of polyphenols in the nanocomposite scaffold promises to be a novel idea for achieving healing benefits due to increase in level of expression of growth factors mainly TGF β and VEGF as these pathways are impaired in diabetic wounds. The present study aims to treat these wounds by developing smart dressing nanoscaffolds of different polymers, Bergenia ciliata rhizome extract / bergenin nanocomposites by regulating inflammatory pathways (TGF β and VEGF genes), which are known to play important role in diabetic manisfestation. The work will be carried out through several steps: (1) Development and characterization of Bergenia ciliata rhizome extract / bergenin/polymer nanocomposites scaffold using electrospinning and 3D printing techniques. (2) In vitro cytotoxicity, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of the nano-composite scaffold. (3) In vivo wound healing property of the developed nano-composite scaffold in diabetic rats/mice/rabbits (4) Gene expression analysis of inflammatory phase genes (VEGF and TGF-beta genes) in diabetic animal models. This research will aid the industry in developing smart dressing material that is more potent, with fewer side effects, and more cost-effective, especially for chronic diabetes wounds. Additionally, it will reveal possible mechanisms in in vivo animal models for testing wound healing properties through gene expression, and optimal dose for nanocomposite scaffolds.