Bacterial fouling of wound dressings and implanted medical devices remain persistent challenges in healthcare. Surface coatings that are resistant to fouling that release antibiotics and/or quorum sensing modulators provide exciting new avenue for combatting infections, among other applications. In a longstanding collaboration with David Lynn’s research lab in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW–Madison, we have developed numerous materials and coatings that incorporate quorum sensing modulators that can alter bacterial behavior at and around their surfaces.
Featured Projects
Quorum Sensing Modulator Release & Antibiofouling Activity
Materials that are resistant to biofouling are of significant value in clinical settings to reduce the potential for infection. The ability of materials to release quorum sensing modulators that can render their surfaces as antibiofuling, enhance the intrinsic antibiofouling activity of the surface, and/or modulate virulence factor production by bacteria in the surrounding area provide novel routes to mitigate infection. We have demonstrated the ability to load a range of materials and thin films with quorum sensing modulators that leads to the reduction of bacterial colonization and biofilm formation on their surfaces and reduced virulence factor production by bacteria in their immediate proximity.
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Controlled Release of Quorum Sensing Modulators from Degradable Polymers
Materials-based approaches to the localized release of quorum sensing modulators provides an exciting avenue to explore anti-virulence approaches either instead of or in tandem with traditional antibiotics. Over the past decade, we have incorporated numerous quorum sensing antagonists into common biodegradable polymers and formulated microparticles, films, and fibers. These materials can be tuned to deliver their bioactive payloads over minutes to years. We have shown that the controlled release of quorum sensing modulators from such biodegradable polymers can outperform the effects seen by a single bolus administration of these anti-virulence compounds, both in bacterial cultures and in vivo. We continue to explore these findings further with additional compounds, in combination with antibiotics, and in alternative in vivo models of infection.
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