Researchers discover new bacteria-resistant materials

Experts in the Schools of Pharmacy and Molecular Medical Sciences have shown that the new materials, applied to the surface of medical devices, repel bacteria and prevent them from forming biofilms.

The study, led by Professor Morgan Alexander, and Professor Martyn Davies in the University of Nottingham School of Pharmacy and Professor Paul Williams in the School of Molecular Medical Sciences was supported by a Translation Award from the Wellcome Trust and has recently been published in the prestigious academic journal Nature Biotechnology.

The discovery was made with the help of experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who developed the process by which thousands of unique polymers can now be screened simultaneously.

“This is a major scientific breakthrough — we have discovered a new group of structurally related materials that dramatically reduce the attachment of pathogenic bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli). We could not have found these materials using the current understanding of bacteria-surface interactions. The technology developed with the help of MIT means that hundreds of materials could be screened simultaneously to reveal new structure-property relationships. In total thousands of materials were investigated using this high throughput materials discovery approach leading to the identification of novel materials resisting bacterial attachment. This could not have been achieved using conventional techniques,” said Professor Alexander.

The new materials prevent infection by stopping biofilm formation when the bacteria attempt to attach themselves to the device. In laboratory conditions, the numbers of bacteria were reduced by up to 96.7% and were effective at resisting bacterial attachment in a mouse implant infection model. This allows the body’s own immune system to kill the bacteria before they have time to generate biofilms.