Discovery: New Coating Could Prevent Infection From Surgical Tools and Implants

[pkpatriotic]

Discoveries - New Coating Could Prevent Infection From Surgical Tools and Implants - US National Science Foundation (NSF)
Development of penicillin-coated surfaces could save thousands of lives from infection
September 7, 2007

Nattharika Aumsuwan and Marek Urban, part of the team that developed antibiotic coating process.

Penicillin, long used in medications, is now being studied as a coating, a novel weapon against bacteria that could protect medical implants and the surgical tools used to insert them. The development could potentially save thousands of lives, as many patients contract infections following surgery.

The innovation was developed by researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi through the work of polymer science professor Marek Urban and his team of researchers in the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials. To shed light on the possibilities for the new technology, Urban recently discussed the discovery with Behind the Scenes.

How would you describe this new development?

This is the first study to show that antibiotics can be attached to a surface. We have developed a way to modify a surface to allow penicillin to be attached to varying lengths of "spacer molecules"--this results in a spongy surface that mimics Mother Nature. When a bacteria lands and attempts to form a deadly microbial film, the penicillin molecules surround the bacteria and disrupt the process.

This is a unique approach that hasn't been explored before and involves both chemistry and shape. The chemistry part allows the drug to be attached, while the control over shape allows for surface modifications, depending on the application.

What does it mean for the general public?

Through laboratory experiments, we demonstrated that the penicillin-coated surfaces were highly effective against Staphylococcus aureus, one of the most deadly and pervasive causes of staph infections.

The process of sterilization of surgical instruments isn't 100 percent effective. Bacteria get resistant to this type of environment, so the problem becomes more pronounced. If sterilization were completely effective, there wouldn't be thousands of people who die each year from infections caught in the hospital.

Who might benefit from this discovery?

The potential impact of this breakthrough is huge for anyone who has any kind of surgical procedure performed in the hospital.

Nearly 2 million people in the United States get an infection while in the hospital. Of those, more than 90,000 die each year from infections not related to their medical condition, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, that number is exponentially larger.

Beyond fighting infections, are there other applications for this discovery?

While our team's laboratory experiments were conducted using penicillin, the process could be expanded to different antibiotics, which is critical since so many people are allergic to penicillin. Another reason for extending the process to other antibiotics: an estimated 70 percent of the bacteria that cause hospital infections are resistant to some of the antibiotics most commonly used to treat them.

The development also can be used to develop anti-clotting surfaces, preventing blood clotting on implants.

How long has your team been working on this project?

Our research team has significant experience in modifying polymer surfaces, but developed this particular technique only within the past year. Other members of the team are Nattharika Aumsuwan from the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials and Sabine Heinhorst from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

(The research was originally reported in the Feb. 12, 2007, issue of Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal published by the American Chemical Society.)

What's the next step in bringing this technology into the marketplace?

While the development is promising, clinical studies and tests are still necessary before the application becomes a reality. A patent is pending on the discovery while the university is exploring avenues to take the technology to the marketplace.

The university is looking for commercial partners who can take it to the next level. Our researchers make the discovery and a university company looks for partners who can help turn it into products. This project is a perfect example of how this partnership between science and business commercialization works at Southern Miss. In the end, what we're doing here is not only contributing to the betterment of society, but also making an economic development impact on behalf of our university.

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Investigators
Marek Urban
Nattharika Aumsuwan
Sabine Heinhorst


Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Southern Mississippi

Locations
Mississippi

 

[Goodperson]

Thanks it was quite informative.

 

[araz]

Discoveries - New Coating Could Prevent Infection From Surgical Tools and Implants - US National Science Foundation (NSF)
Development of penicillin-coated surfaces could save thousands of lives from infection
September 7, 2007

Nattharika Aumsuwan and Marek Urban, part of the team that developed antibiotic coating process.

Penicillin, long used in medications, is now being studied as a coating, a novel weapon against bacteria that could protect medical implants and the surgical tools used to insert them. The development could potentially save thousands of lives, as many patients contract infections following surgery.

The innovation was developed by researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi through the work of polymer science professor Marek Urban and his team of researchers in the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials. To shed light on the possibilities for the new technology, Urban recently discussed the discovery with Behind the Scenes.

How would you describe this new development?

This is the first study to show that antibiotics can be attached to a surface. We have developed a way to modify a surface to allow penicillin to be attached to varying lengths of "spacer molecules"--this results in a spongy surface that mimics Mother Nature. When a bacteria lands and attempts to form a deadly microbial film, the penicillin molecules surround the bacteria and disrupt the process.

This is a unique approach that hasn't been explored before and involves both chemistry and shape. The chemistry part allows the drug to be attached, while the control over shape allows for surface modifications, depending on the application.

What does it mean for the general public?

Through laboratory experiments, we demonstrated that the penicillin-coated surfaces were highly effective against Staphylococcus aureus, one of the most deadly and pervasive causes of staph infections.

The process of sterilization of surgical instruments isn't 100 percent effective. Bacteria get resistant to this type of environment, so the problem becomes more pronounced. If sterilization were completely effective, there wouldn't be thousands of people who die each year from infections caught in the hospital.

Who might benefit from this discovery?

The potential impact of this breakthrough is huge for anyone who has any kind of surgical procedure performed in the hospital.

Nearly 2 million people in the United States get an infection while in the hospital. Of those, more than 90,000 die each year from infections not related to their medical condition, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, that number is exponentially larger.

Beyond fighting infections, are there other applications for this discovery?

While our team's laboratory experiments were conducted using penicillin, the process could be expanded to different antibiotics, which is critical since so many people are allergic to penicillin. Another reason for extending the process to other antibiotics: an estimated 70 percent of the bacteria that cause hospital infections are resistant to some of the antibiotics most commonly used to treat them.

The development also can be used to develop anti-clotting surfaces, preventing blood clotting on implants.

How long has your team been working on this project?

Our research team has significant experience in modifying polymer surfaces, but developed this particular technique only within the past year. Other members of the team are Nattharika Aumsuwan from the School of Polymers and High Performance Materials and Sabine Heinhorst from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

(The research was originally reported in the Feb. 12, 2007, issue of Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal published by the American Chemical Society.)

What's the next step in bringing this technology into the marketplace?

While the development is promising, clinical studies and tests are still necessary before the application becomes a reality. A patent is pending on the discovery while the university is exploring avenues to take the technology to the marketplace.

The university is looking for commercial partners who can take it to the next level. Our researchers make the discovery and a university company looks for partners who can help turn it into products. This project is a perfect example of how this partnership between science and business commercialization works at Southern Miss. In the end, what we're doing here is not only contributing to the betterment of society, but also making an economic development impact on behalf of our university.

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Investigators
Marek Urban
Nattharika Aumsuwan
Sabine Heinhorst


Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Southern Mississippi

Locations
Mississippi

MRSA and VRE two of the so called superbugs are already resistant to Penicillin. So it might not do all that good.All that we need is meticulous attention to hand hygeine and laminar flow in theatres, as proven in our hospital in Uk.
WaSalam
Araz

 

[dr.umer]

This discovery will help prevent "cross-infection" and hence would result in prevention of some serious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis.

 

[su-47]

Bravo to the research team. Progress in medical science is beneficial for the whole world. Thanks for the great article pkpatriotic

 

[pkpatriotic]

Natural Bio-Army Trained to Fight Cancer - US National Science Foundation

Bioengineer Tarek Fahmy and colleagues are engineering new nanoscopic and microscopic biomaterials to stimulate the body’s production of killer T-cells to fight infectious diseases

A bioparticle (left) ready to bind antigens (yellow) from tumor cells. Antigens are the unique, small molecules found on viruses and other diseases that prompt the body to mount an immune defense. Once the antigens are bound to the bioparticle, they can activate the body's immune system by interacting with T-cells (far right). Signaling proteins called cytokines embedded in the bioparticle (red) release slowly and help further stimulate the immune response.

Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, NSF

Cancer cells use a lot of tricks and one of the more troubling is their ability to mask their presence, convincing the body's immune system that they are, in fact, part and parcel with the rest of their human host.

If the white blood cells of our immune system--particularly the powerhouse "killer" T-cells--could easily identify cancer, they would become a nanoscale army dedicated solely to eradicating mutated cells.

Bioengineer Tarek Fahmy of Yale University has devoted his life's work to training our bodies to create such armies. The recipient of a 2007 NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program award to create immunity-boosting microcapsules that guide T-cells to cancer, he and his colleagues are making breakthroughs. Already finding success in laboratory experiments with mouse cells, Fahmy hopes to move to human trials within five years.

"Nanotechnology and biomaterials science have progressed rapidly in the past few years, and so has our understanding of the fundamentals of how the immune system works in health and disease," Fahmy said.

"What is needed is a bridge that links advances in these sciences," he added. "We found ourselves making connections between engineering new nanoscopic and microscopic biomaterials and tailoring them to interact with immune system cells in defined ways. Artificial cells, as such, can be tailored to tackle immunity, and one of the most highly sought after outcomes in medicine is to have the body mount a strong protective immune response against cancer."

Immune booster

Working in collaboration with his graduate student Erin Steenblock, Fahmy has created cell-sized plastic spheres that both prep the immune system to fight a specific disease and stimulate the T-cells to multiply their forces. Currently targeting cancer, the work may eventually be applicable for a range of diseases, from AIDS to influenza.

"This work is rewarding in the sense that we can engineer existing drugs like cytokines and antibodies by using safe, established polymers in new ways to impact human health in very significant ways," said Steenblock.

To create their immune booster, Fahmy and Steenblock first craft large quantities of the microspheres out of a material called poly(lactide-co-glycolide), familiar to the medical community for its use in biodegradable sutures. Within the microspheres, the researchers encapsulate proteins called cytokines that are known to trigger the reproduction and activation of T-cells.

Cytokines have been used for years in cancer therapy to help boost a patient's natural immune response, but high doses are toxic. Within targeted capsules, the cytokines only go where needed.

Cytokine capsules are not new to cancer treatment, but the new methodology improves on prior methods by releasing cytokines in a controlled way that mimics their natural mode of delivery by immune cells in the body.

Tuning the antigens

To complete the spherules, the researchers affix molecules to the outsides of the filled capsules, in this case, attaching antigens--substances that alert our T-cells to a foreign intruder and simultaneously prime the T-cells to attack. Antigens can be very specific, tuned not only for individual diseases, but for the unique expression of a disease in a single patient.

The antigens in the researchers' latest work are specific for a model protein. Fahmy and Steenblock have also been successful using non-specific stimulant molecules, an approach with broad use as a convenient, off-the-shelf method, applicable to virtually any patient.

The resulting product is a powder that looks like baking soda, each grain a single microcapsule. When Fahmy and Steenblock mixed the powder with mouse T-cells, the cells multiplied at a record rate. In the best runs of the experiment, for every million T-cells introduced to the powder, 45 million emerged, each primed to specifically attack the targeted cancer.

Concludes Fahmy, "The power of this approach is the possibility that one day a physician may reach for a vial of powder, reconstitute the contents, and inject these into the patient as a treatment for cancer or even autoimmune disease."

-- Josh Chamot, National Science Foundation jchamot@nsf.gov

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Investigators
Tarek Fahmy
Erin Steenblock


Related Institutions/Organizations
Yale University

Locations
Connecticut

Related Programs
Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program

Related Awards
#0747577 CAREER: Engineering Therapeutic Immune Responses with Artificial Antigen-Presenting Cells

Total Grants
$400,000

 

[araz]

This discovery will help prevent "cross-infection" and hence would result in prevention of some serious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis.

both Hepatitis and HIV are viruses and Penicillin s ineffective against them. As always prevention is beter than cure. Will wrrite in detail later
WaSalam
Araz

 

[Marshal]

Hey I have got similar NEWS

Silicon 'sharkskin' may be key to fighting bacteria

A sterile sharkskin suit - The Denver Post

today I just saw a program on discovery channel on silicon sharkskin and it says it can be used on the surgical tools to prevent the infaction.



Military News

Fake Shark Skin Could Make Navy Fleet Faster
Fake Shark Skin Could Make Navy Fleet Faster | LiveScience


Few creatures spawn more fear than sharks. But these complex fish also have provided inspiration for several useful technologies. One new idea has captured the interest of the U.S. Navy.

Shark skin has been used by many cultures as sandpaper. It's kept shipmates safe in slippery-when-wet conditions. Swimsuits modeled on shark skin are said by Speedo to reduce drag by up to 4 percent.

Now, research by two separate groups could lead to synthetic shark skin that would make ships and submarines faster and less expensive to operate.

If the research pans out, submarines -- already stealthy and shark-like -- could become even more so.

The problem

The growth of barnacles, mussels, algae and other organisms adds to fuel costs for the military and shipping industry, increasing drag by up to 15 percent, scientists say. In the industry, it's called bio-fouling.

The Navy spends about $600 million each year to power ships and submarines. At least $50 million of that cost is directly related to bio-fouling, says Navy scientist Stephen McElvany.

Paints laced with deadly biocides curb the problem, but they are also toxic to other marine life.

Some fish, and also whales, are fouled by hitchhiking marine life. But not sharks. Scientists have figured out that the secret to clean sharks is in the complex design of their scales.

Amazing scales

Shark scales are made of a hard material called dentin. Basically, the scales are tiny teeth. They all point backward, so a shark would feel smooth if you dared to stroke it from head to tail, but rough if you ran your hand the other way.

Studies have found that the scales act as armor for a shark and also create tiny vortices that reduce drag to make them faster. The scales also allow sharks to swim silently compared to other fish that generate considerable noise when they ply the water.

The design has proved useful to humans in many ways.

Norwegians applied real shark skin to the soles of their boots to prevent slippage on wet ship decks. In the 2000 Olympics, swimmers began wearing full-body suits modeled on shark skin.

What's good for the shark ...

Importantly, shark scales flex individually, constantly changing and limiting the amount of exposed surface area on which organisms can attach, scientists have learned.

Ralph Liedert of the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, Germany has developed a synthetic shark skin of elastic silicone that similarly reduces the contact surface, making it harder for barnacles to gain a foothold.

While simpler in design than shark scales, the ship skin reduced bio-fouling by 67 percent in tests, Liedert will report this week at the Society for Experimental Biology's annual meeting in Barcelona.

Mussels and barnacles make some of the strongest adhesives known (other scientists try to mimic the properties to make better household glue). But the glue of a barnacle, Liedert found, can only penetrate so far into a rough surface, explaining why the scales prevent them from sticking.

With the fake skin applied, a ship moving at 4-5 knots becomes self-cleaning, removing most organisms, Liedert found.

Military interest

In separate work funded in part by the U.S. Navy, scientists at the University of Florida have developed a similar coating, made of tiny diamond-shaped scales that flex in and out to impede the growth of organisms.

The coating was tested in a lab using a common algae. The algae's spores had a very hard time attaching to the surface.

"It normally sticks to everything, but we have reduced spore settlement by 85 percent," said Anthony Brennan, a University of Florida professor of materials science. "The only place the spores land right now is where we have a defect in the pattern."

While the high-tech skins could reduce costs for the shipping industry, they could prove a strategic advantage for the military.

McElvany called the finding “exciting" but said there are still challenging research hurdles to clear before the technology could be deployed.

"If achieved, this improved coating could not only be exempt from future environmental constraints and regulations, it would also provide increased fuel efficiency and velocity of Navy vessels," McElvany said.

Shark Skin Coating