Porous Multi-Functional Interfaces for Controlling Biofoulings

由于蛋白质或微生物生物膜附着在表面上而引起的生物结垢是一个普遍存在的问题，其在工业中造成数百万美元的损失，并且是许多细菌相关疾病的起源。这笔赠款为开发新的表面化学和多孔界面提供资金，这些界面可以防止蛋白质的吸附，哺乳动物细胞的粘附和生物膜的形成，从而可以控制不同表面上的生物污垢。基于一种新的理论，该项目能够使用kosmotropes，保持蛋白质的天然结构，以防止蛋白质吸附和表面上的生物污垢。因为生物膜的形成在二维和垂直方向上进行，所以设计多孔水凝胶层也解决生物膜形成的三维性质。这种多孔水凝胶是通过最近开发的水包水乳液构建的，其使得能够使用酶来降解生物膜的结构，并且使用药物来抑制细菌形成群落（群体感应），这是形成生物膜的先决条件。通过新材料的有机合成，拟议的研究将破译生物污垢问题中的每一个问题：表面改性的立体化学如何影响蛋白质吸附，三维多孔界面结构如何影响生物膜的形成，以及如何将酶和药物功能纳入结构中以控制生物污垢。完成后，该项目将有助于更统一地理解生物污垢的化学性质，包括生物膜的三维性质，并为医疗和工业应用提供控制生物污垢的潜在通用方法。

Biofouling due to the attachment of proteins or microbial biofilms on surfaces is a ubiquitous problem that costs millions of dollars worthy of damages in industry and is the origin for many bacteria-associated diseases. This grant provides funding for the development of new surface chemistries and porous interfaces that can prevent the adsorption of proteins, adhesion of mammalian cells and the formation of biofilms, and thus can control the biofouling on different surfaces. Based on a new theory, this project enables the use of kosmotropes, which maintain the native structure of proteins, to prevent protein adsorption and biofouling on surfaces. Because the formation of biofilm progresses in two dimensions and in the vertical direction, a porous layer of hydrogel is designed to also address the three-dimensional nature of biofilm formation. This porous hydrogel is built by a recent development of water-in-water emulsion, which enables the use of enzymes to degrade the structure of biofilm, and drugs to inhibit the bacteria from forming a community (quorum sensing) that is the prerequisite for forming the biofilms. Enabled by organic synthesis of new materials, the proposed research will decipher each of the multitudes in the biofouling problem: how the stereochemistry of the surface modification can influence protein adsorption, how a three-dimensional porous interfacial structure affects the formation of biofilm, and how to incorporate enzymatic and drug functions into structures to control biofoulings. When completed, this project will contribute to a more unifying understanding of the chemistry of biofouling including the three-dimensional nature of biofilms, and provide potentially general methods to control biofouling for both medical and industrial applications.