OHAMR Call for proposals 2026

General Information

• Project title: Combination systemic/topical treatment for non-healing chronic infected wounds
• Type: Project looking for partner
• Organisation: LightOx Ltd.
• Country: United Kingdom (UK)
• Career stage: Early Career Researcher (up to 8 years** since PhD).

Research area

• Scientific area(s) of the call:
  1. Topic 1: Identify and develop new combination treatments using existing or innovative antimicrobials or antimicrobial with adjunctive treatments to extend drug efficacy and combat resistance.
• One Health Setting:

  H - Human Health

  A - Animal Health

• Keywords:

  light activated; topical; wound; diabetes; chronic

• Brief description of your expertise / expertise you are looking for:

  At LightOx, we have in-house chemistry and microbiology expertise but are looking for partners in either. We have a portfolio of novel, small molecule drugs which destroy bacteria (including those resident in biofilms) using a drug + light modality. We are looking for those with: - a (chronic) wound model (species agnostic, in vitro/in vivo) for testing novel antimicrobials, including in combination with existing drugs - a medium throughput system for testing of novel compounds (multi-assay screen) and combinations with existing antimicrobials - experience in formulation of small molecules for topical applications - we are particularly interested in those with photophysics experience to help understanding the mechanism of action of our light activated small molecules.

• Brief description of your project / the project you would like to join:

  Our idea for the project is to test a combination of systemic plus topical drug treatment for infected wounds, with existing drugs delivered systemically and our novel drugs delivered topically. There will be both academic and commercial outputs of this project: - academic outputs involve understanding how combination treatment is more effective, bacterial responses to multi drug insult, and mechanism of action of novel drugs (and perhaps how this synergises with existing drugs). - commercial outputs will be a topical antimicrobial product, which will reach at least TRL4 by project end. We are open to discussion on the exact nature of the project, get in touch if you are interested.

Cole Sims

• Organisation: LightOx Ltd.
• Position: Business Development Lead
• E-mail: cole.sims@lightox.co.uk
• Web: www.lightox.co.uk