Development of Functional Materials for Battling Bacterial Contamination

细菌污染会促进难以维护/维修的地下管道的腐蚀，并导致食源性疾病和医院获得性感染。材料在抵御有害细菌污染方面发挥着关键作用。我已建立的研究计划专注于开发创新的抗菌材料和涂层，并了解这些材料和涂层的接触杀灭作用模式。鉴于排放的杀生剂对环境的负面影响和抗生素耐药性的日益增加的威胁，人们希望开发不向环境中释放额外的杀生剂并且可以被已经常规使用的杀生剂反复激活以杀灭生物的杀生涂层，并开发能够潜在地作为抗生素的替代品并且不会引起细菌耐药性的抗菌材料。N-氯胺是指具有N-氯单键的一组化合物，其中的氯带有部分正电荷并具有氧化性。在杀灭细菌后，N-氯胺转化为其前体胺/酰胺，后者可通过氯漂白再次转化为N-氯胺。重要的是，没有细菌对N-氯胺产生耐药性的报道。然而，有关N-氯胺技术的许多基本问题仍然存在。目前的提案描述了一项研究计划，该计划发明基于N-氯胺的新型抗菌材料，并研究其与腐蚀诱导细菌和病原菌的相互作用，为开发在工业和医疗保健领域具有巨大用途的新一代功能性生物杀菌材料奠定坚实的基础。我们将开发新的基于N-氯胺的抗菌涂层，这种涂层可以抵抗蛋白质，可以通过极稀的氯(1-90ppm)和基于N-氯胺的选择性杀菌纳米颗粒再生，这些纳米颗粒不太可能导致细菌耐药性。这项拟议的研究计划预计将为1)创新的可充电抗菌涂层的成功开发奠定坚实的基础，该涂层可应用于各种表面，以最大限度地减少细菌在环境和食品加工过程中造成的腐蚀和细菌传播，以及2)细菌选择性杀菌纳米颗粒作为抗生素替代品。我们的结果将对抗菌材料社区产生重大影响，因为它将代表解决细菌污染的新视角，并阐明接触杀灭机制。这项研究计划将继续将我的研究小组定位为抗菌功能材料领域的国际领先者。这项研究将为2名博士、2名硕士和5名理科学生提供机会，接受材料工程和生物医学工程领域潜在雇主高需求的技术技能方面的全面培训。我的跨学科培训环境将吸引与当地和国际行业的新伙伴关系。

Bacterial contamination can facilitate corrosion of hard-to-maintain/repair underground pipelines, and cause foodborne illnesses and hospital acquired infections. Materials play a pivotal role in warding off the detrimental bacterial contamination. My established research program focuses on developing innovative antibacterial materials and coatings, and understanding the contact-kill mode of action of those materials and coatings. In view of the negative impact of discharged biocides to the environment and the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance, it is desirable to develop biocidal coatings that do not release extra biocides into the environment and can be repeatedly reactivated to be biocidal by the already routinely used biocides, and develop antibacterial materials that can potentially serve as alternatives for antibiotics and do not induce bacterial resistance. N-chloramines refer to a group of compounds with an N-Cl single bond, in which Cl bears a partial positive charge and is oxidative. After killing bacteria, N-chloramines are converted to their precursor amines/amides which can be turned into N-chloramines again by chlorine bleach. Importantly, no bacterial resistance is reported against N-chloramines. However, many fundamental questions remain about the N-chloramine technology. The current proposal describes a research program that invents new N-chloramine-based antibacterial materials and investigates their interactions with corrosion-inducing and pathogenic bacteria, laying a solid foundation for the development of a new generation of functional biocidal materials with great utility in industrial and healthcare sectors. We will develop new N-chloramine-based antibacterial coatings that resist proteins and can be regenerated by very dilute chlorine (1-90ppm), and N-chloramine-based selective biocidal nanoparticles that are unlikely to induce bacterial resistance. This proposed research program is anticipated to lay a solid foundation for the successful development of 1) innovative rechargeable antibacterial coatings that can be applied to various surfaces to minimize bacteria caused corrosion, bacterial transmission in the environment and in food processing processes, and 2) bacteria selective biocidal nanoparticles as antibiotic alternatives. Our results will be of significant interest to the antibacterial materials community, as it will represent a new perspective of tackling bacterial contamination and elucidate the contact-kill mechanism. This research program will continue to position my research group as an international leader in the area of antibacterial functional materials. The research will provide opportunities for 2 PhD, 2 MSc and 5 BSc students to receive comprehensive training in technical skills that are in high demand by potential employers in material engineering and biomedical engineering sectors. My interdisciplinary training environment will attract new partnerships with local and international industry.