Disruption and Prevention of Bacterial Biofilms - Market Research Commercial Viability Study

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The majority of the microscopic organisms (or microbes), such as bacteria and fungi, found in the environment grow in large communities enclosed in a layer of material called a biofilm. These microbial biofilms are frequently found in home, often as slimes growing on wet surfaces (such as bathroom tiles, taps and water pipes). Normally these biofilms pose little risk to people and can easily be removed by standard cleaning products. However, in both healthcare and industrial envirnoments, microbes growing in biofilms can cause a multitude of serious problems. In industrial environments the build up of slimes on surfaces leads to many different problems, such as the clogging of pipes and the fouling of machines. It is also the first step in the build up of barnacles and other sea creatures on the hulls of container ships. The growth of these creatures makes the hull rough and increases the ship's 'drag' through the water. This means the ship must use more fuel to go at the same speed, adding to CO2 emissions, to the cost of moving the cargo and ultimately the price of the transported goods. Much more serious problems can occur in healthcare environments. The slime layer of a biofilm encapsulates the microbe which made it. This provides a protective barrier between the microbe and its environment. In the case of a bacterial infection in a person (such as an MRSA wound infection, commonly found in recovering hospital patients) the biofilms are very difficult to remove and they make the infectious bacteria highly resistant to antibiotics. It is therefore extremely difficult to cure a bacterial biofilm infection often resulting in patient fatalities. In fact bacterial and fungal biofilms play a highly significant role in large number of medical conditions, from serious infectious diseases to chronic conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis. Biofilms are also involved in infections related to medical implants and even in every day health issues such as tooth decay and plaque build up. We are developing a new approach to fight biofilms. The microbes which make biofilms can also to disperse them, to allow the microbes to move to new places. Some microbes deliberately break up the biofilms formed by other competing microbes, in order to steal food or other resources. We are using these same techniques to break up biofilms. We have isolated a species of bacteria (from the sea) which releases a chemical (an enzyme) which breaks down a key part of the biofilms. This results in a break down of the whole biofilm and causes the target bacteria to disperse from their biofilm protected state. This enzyme also prevents the formation of new biofilms, thus it can be used in a pre-emptive preventative manner. We aim to explore methods to make this key enzyme cheaply and to test it in the break up of many different biofilms associated with diseases and industrial problems. The ultimate aim of this project will be to show that our enzyme can be used to solve specific biofilm related problems. An example would be using our enzyme to break up the biofilms in a patient who has a bacterial infection, followed by an antibiotic to kill the now more vulnerable bacteria. This would result in a new way to cure patients with certain bacterial infections.