Novel monomer and polymer synthesis with antimicrobial function and their reaction with enzymes

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Acquired bacterial infections affect nearly 5% of all hospitalized patients and are transmitted via medical devices. Bacteria have the ability to adhere to biomaterials used to fabricate such devices and promote the formation of biofilms. This is an on-going challenge as traditional systematic treatment by antibiotics is often insufficient to overcome the complex organization of the bacterial biofilms. With an increasing aging population in Canada and other countries, the need for polymeric biomaterials with pro-biotic and/or microbial resistant function along with healing character in some instances, is needed to better address microbial challenges. The hypothesis of this grant is that antimicrobial containing monomers and bacterial resistant monomers, and their polymers, generated from synthetic pathways will yield functional biomaterials. There are three principal objectives: 1) To study the resistance of novel urethane-fluorinated monomers generated previously in the laboratory to saliva derived enzymes, and to produce polymers with these monomers, that are optimized for physical performance properties, and resistance to enzyme/bacterial interactions. 2) To incorporate chemistry into novel antimicrobial monomers that will yield polymers with practical physical properties and resistance to bacterial biofilm formation. 3) To generate new periodontal tissues to repair tissue around teeth using a synthetic degradable hydrogel material which facilitates the growth of connective tissue from the host fibroblast cells, and new blood vessels from the host endothelial cells. The findings from all 3 of the above objectives will combine to yield innovative new chemistries and a greater understanding of the influence of monomer chemical structure on the physical, biochemical and biological outcomes of biomaterials, conceived for use where bacteria containing environments yield significant challenges towards achieving a successful clinical/commercial impact for products associated with Canada's healthcare industry. This research is training HQP in the biomedical engineering field (a field with 72% job growth rate- US Bureau of labor statistics).