AT A GLANCE Project Information
Project Title: High throughput microarrays for discovery of polymers resistant to bacterial colonisation.
Project Objective: Bacterial attachment and subsequent biofilm formation pose key challenges to the optimal performance of medical devices. In this study, we assessed the interaction of three bacterial species to hundreds of polymeric materials in a high-throughput microarray format in order to identify novel materials with broad spectrum resistance to bacterial attachment.
Project Duration and Timing: 4 years, Sept 2008 to Sept 2012
Project Funding: Wellcome Trust, Grant number 085245, £1.3 million
Surface characterisation is a key aspect of the materials development programme. ToF-SIMS surface analysis equipment pictured
tested in vivo in a mouse model. Applying the polymers as a coating on to silicone catheters,
the researchers luminescent
still at least five to ten years of work to be done
in this area before we then inserted
these catheters subcutaneously in to the mice. The lumen of each catheter was then inoculated with a strain of
Staphylococcus aureas, and the amount of bacteria within the mouse was monitored over the next four days using live animal imaging equipment. “We observed an order of magnitude reduction in the amount of bacteria on the coated catheters compared to uncoated catheters,” says Dr Hook. “We think that because the bacteria was unable to form a biofilm, the mice’s
immune
systems were more able to deal with the bacterial inoculum.” The class of polyacrylates that is successfully
so able to deter bacterial
attachment is characterised by a non-polar cyclic hydrocarbon pendant group along with a polar ester group. They are weak amphiphiles, meaning that
they possess
both hydrophilic and lipophilic properties that the researchers believe could be closely related to their antibacterial mechanism. Due to the high-throughput approach, however, research into this mechanism has only just begun due to the absence of an original mechanistic hypothesis. “There is
60 can fully
describe the mechanism,” says Alexander. “We have a common structural motif between these materials which is likely to be behind the mechanism, but we need to look at a very basic biological and biochemical level as to why this is happening. This will be crucial for the development of
these
materials in the future.” The potential of these materials is not
limited to urinary catheters; in fact, nearly all medical devices suffer from issues with biofilms, meaning that
the
development of these coatings could well revolutionise this aspect of healthcare in the near future. “Endotracheal tubes, external
scaffolds for severe bone
fractures, intravenous tubes – all of these have been associated with increased risk of infection and could thus benefit from our polymer coatings,” says Alexander. “We have even been contacted by people
in the shipping industry who are interested in stopping the colonisation of ship hulls, which can end up adding huge fuel costs due to drag. We haven’t really explored our materials in that area yet, but it is known that bacterial attachment is a precursor to marine microorganism attachment.”
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Project Partners: University of Nottingham Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
MAIN CONTACT
Prof. Morgan Alexander Morgan Alexander is Professor of Biomedical Surfaces at the University of Nottingham and a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award holder. His group develops materials for application in biological environments, characterising relationships between the surface and biological response. Understanding these relationships is critical in developing the biomaterials of the future.
Contact: Tel: +44 115 9515119 Email:
Morgan.Alexander@
nottingham.ac.uk Web:
www.nottingham.ac.uk/phar- macy/people/
morgan.alexander
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