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

普通人每天都会接触到数百万种细菌，特别是在人口密集的地区。在大多数情况下，我们是和平地遗忘，这对我们的生活几乎没有什么实际影响。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。随着耐药性细菌菌株的增加，防止它们定居或传播因此成为一项重大挑战，特别是在医院病房和护理院，我们人口中最脆弱的成员。“正常”的产品和表面都成为细菌的潜在滋生地，因此也是潜在的感染途径。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性能的医疗和消费产品和设备。对于这一点很重要的大多数产品，标准技术包括严格（通常是复杂的）清洁或灭菌程序，或用抗菌化合物涂覆产品。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受到人为错误的影响，涂层可能会被划伤或损坏，使某些区域不受保护。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，但在确保抗菌保护的一致性方面也面临着最大的挑战。通过将抗菌行为直接引入到产品中，可以减少或消除许多这些问题。该项目将提供关键的早期研究，研究将尖端的增材制造（3D打印）技术与银基抗菌化合物相结合的可能性，以生产具有抗菌性能的高度复杂的产品。增材制造技术因其生产复杂几何形状而几乎没有成本损失的能力而得到广泛认可，并且银的抗菌特性已经被称为数千年。将这两种技术结合在一起是一个真实的机会，可以对我们预防感染的能力产生重大影响。本项目将研究这种技术在包括医疗器械在内的广泛领域的应用潜力（例如，内窥镜或其他用于多名患者的侵入性器械），与人体接触程度较高的一般医院产品（例如门把手或水龙头）、口腔保健产品（例如假牙）和消费品（例如移动的手机壳或个性化鞋垫）。在成功验证概念后，计划在这些领域开展进一步的项目。

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.