The treatment of skin wounds caused by metastatic lesions is often difficult because not many medicines exist that simultaneously act on cancer cells and bacteria. In the framework of a multidisciplinary collaborative research, Prof. Jorge H. Leitão and the PhD student Jeremias Muazeia participated a study, recently published in International Journal of Pharmaceutics, on the antimicrobial and anti-cancer activity of a silver camphorimine complex incorporated in a HEMA-based hydrogel to be used as a dressing for skin cancer wounds. The hydrogel disks loaded with the complex effectively reduced suspensions of E. coli, P. aeruginosa and B. contaminans from the initial 5 × 10⁵ CFU/mL to 0 CFU/mL after 24 and 48 h of incubation. In the case of S. aureus, a reduction of more than 99 % was observed after 24 h. However, after 48 h of incubation, the hydrogel was ineffective towards S. aureus. Further in vivo studies are needed to confirm the clinical potential of the dressings. Nevertheless, the produced dressings offer a promising approach for both infection control and cancer therapy in chronic wounds. See more.