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When the drugs don't work... Manufacturing our pathogen defenses

当药物不起作用时……制造我们的病原体防御系统

基本信息

批准号：
EP/R036748/1
负责人：
Candice Majewski
金额：
$ 18.99万
依托单位：
University of Sheffield
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2018 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FR036748%2F1
关键词：
When drugs don work...Manufacturing

项目摘要

The average person comes into contact with millions of bacteria every day, especially in areas with a high throughput of people. In the majority of cases we are peacefully oblivious, with this having little tangible effect on our lives. However, where a person has a lower immune system than normal these bacteria can become deadly. With an increase in drug-resistant strains of bacteria, preventing them from settling or spreading therefore become a critical challenge, particularly in hospital wards and care homes housing the most vulnerable members of our population. 'Normal' products and surfaces all become potential breeding grounds for bacteria, and therefore potential routes to infection. Addressing this issue is the main focus of this work.The overall vision for this research is the production of medical and consumer products and devices with inherent anti-bacterial properties. For the majority of products for which this is important, standard techniques include rigorous (and often complex) cleaning or sterilisation procedures, or coating the product with an anti-bacterial compound. Whilst these provide a level of protection, each has limitations; for example cleaning and sterilisation procedures can be subject to human error and coatings may become scratched or damaged, leaving some areas unprotected. Products with complex geometries (including those incorporating some degree of personalisation), are of great interest in the healthcare sector but also present the greatest challenge in ensuring consistency of anti-bacterial protection. By introducing anti-bacterial behaviour into a product directly, many of these issues could be reduced or eliminated. This project will provide crucial early-stage investigations into the possibility of combining cutting-edge Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing) techniques with a silver-based anti-bacterial compound in order to produce highly complex products incorporating anti-bacterial properties. Additive Manufacturing techniques are well-recognised for their ability to produce complicated geometries with little of no cost penalty, and the anti-bacterial properties of silver have been known for millennia. Bringing the two together presents a real opportunity to provide a significant impact on our ability to guard against infection.This project will investigate the potential of this technique for applications in a wide range of areas including medical devices (e.g. endoscopes or other intrusive devices used for multiple patients), general hospital products subjected to high levels of human contact (e.g. door handles or taps), oral health products (e.g. dentures) and consumer products (e.g. mobile phone cases or personalised shoe insoles). Further projects are planned in each of these areas, following successful proof of concept here.

一般人每天都会接触数百万个细菌，尤其是在人流量大的地区。在大多数情况下，我们会平静地忽视，这对我们的生活几乎没有实际影响。然而，如果一个人的免疫系统比正常人低，这些细菌可能会致命。随着耐药细菌菌株的增加，防止它们定居或传播成为一项严峻的挑战，特别是在我们人口中最脆弱成员的医院病房和护理院中。 “正常”产品和表面都成为细菌的潜在滋生地，因此也成为潜在的感染途径。解决这个问题是这项工作的主要重点。这项研究的总体愿景是生产具有固有抗菌特性的医疗和消费品及设备。对于大多数对此很重要的产品，标准技术包括严格的（通常是复杂的）清洁或灭菌程序，或在产品上涂上抗菌化合物。虽然这些提供了一定程度的保护，但每种都有局限性；例如，清洁和灭菌程序可能会出现人为错误，涂层可能会被划伤或损坏，从而导致某些区域不受保护。具有复杂几何形状的产品（包括具有一定程度个性化的产品）在医疗保健领域引起了极大的兴趣，但也对确保抗菌保护的一致性提出了最大的挑战。通过将抗菌行为直接引入产品中，可以减少或消除其中许多问题。该项目将对尖端增材制造（3D 打印）技术与银基抗菌化合物相结合的可能性进行重要的早期研究，以生产具有抗菌特性的高度复杂的产品。增材制造技术因其能够在几乎没有成本损失的情况下生产复杂的几何形状而得到广泛认可，而且银的抗菌特性几千年来一直为人所知。将两者结合在一起提供了一个真正的机会，可以对我们预防感染的能力产生重大影响。该项目将研究该技术在广泛领域的应用潜力，包括医疗设备（例如内窥镜或用于多个患者的其他侵入设备）、与人类高度接触的综合医院产品（例如门把手或水龙头）、口腔保健产品（例如假牙）和消费品（例如手机壳或个性化产品）鞋垫）。在成功进行概念验证后，我们还计划在这些领域开展进一步的项目。