Objective
Outbreaks of clinical infections affect many thousands of patients in Europe yearly. The present effective treatment for infections is large doses of systemically applied drugs. There is a high risk of recurring infections and biofilm formation for patients dependent on long term in-dwelling catheters and the extended dependency on antibiotics result in clinical drug resistance. We present a new tool for minimizing drug resistance by upgrading existing and future medical devices through a unique self-regenerating surface that prevents biofilm formation by a two-fold stealth attack mechanism. This will be achieved by an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) that allows for long term release of a range of antimicrobial strategies, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) . The IPNs contain hydrogels where the AMP is stored until the release starts at the insertion of the device with an expected long-term effect. The first line of defence will be a fixed galvanic noble metal alloy coating that will prevent bacteria from colonizing the surface. Local and site-specific treatment with long term effect instead of systemic treatment implies improved patient management and citizen well-fare.
Field of science
- /medical and health sciences/basic medicine/pharmacology and pharmacy/drug resistance
- /social sciences/sociology/governance/public services
Call for proposal
FP7-HEALTH-2011-two-stage
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Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
2630 Taastrup
Denmark
Participants (6)
7610001 Rehovot
2800 Kgs Lyngby
33650 Martillac
10242 Stockholm
2880 Bagsvaerd
SW17 0RE London
