Scientists at the University of Nottingham have demonstrated a relationship between bacterial attachment, molecular rigidity and hydrophobicity that will be a key predictive tool for developing novel materials that are resistant to bacterial attachment.
The research was led by Dr. Andrew Hook and conducted by Mr. Olutoba Sanni, a visiting pharmacy student from Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy. The School of Pharmacy at Nottingham contributes to the Pharmacy course at Tor Vergata and hosts research projects each year.
The researchers explored how varying the side-groups along a polymer chain altered the way in which bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, attached to the material’s surface. Using polymer microarrays, a format whereby thousands of polymers could be assessed in a single experiment, the researchers noticed that the bacterial coverage on a material could be predicted by assessing the hydrophobicity and molecular flexibility of an ester linked side-group together. This was observed for a subset of polymers, but was also successful when applied to a larger and more chemical diverse set of polymers. This insight is highly promising for predicted new materials able to prevent bacterial attachment and allow further development at preventing bacterial attachment and associated infection on medical devices.
Olutoba has since graduated and is currently working for Alliance Boots.
This research was recently published in Advanced Healthcare Materials
Posted on Monday 26th January 2015