Beginning: 1st April 2016
End: 30th September 2016
Supervisor: Dr. Qun Ren (EMPA, [email protected]);
Dr. Hui Chai-Gao (CSEM, [email protected])
Surface Bioengineering: Coating the Catheters with Anti-Microbial Peptides.
Background
Bacterial colonization of urinary catheters is a common problem leading to Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) in patients, which result in high treatment costs and medical complications. Due to the advantages of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) compared to most other antimicrobial molecules, an increasing number of AMP-coated surfaces is being developed but their efficacy is hindered by suboptimal coating methods and loss of peptide activity upon surface tethering.
Works
• Feasibility study to immobilize anti-microbial peptides to the surfaces of urinary catheters using the OptoDex Technology, a surface bioengineering technology (at CSEM).
• Optimize the peptide-immobilization processes with OptoDex analogues (at CSEM).
• Determination and characterization of the anti-microbial activity of coated urinary catheters (at EMPA).
• Evaluation of biocompatibility of coated urinary catheters (at EMPA).
