Development of Functional Materials for Battling Bacterial Contamination

细菌污染可促进难以维护/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。我的既定研究计划侧重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。鉴于排放的杀生物剂对环境的负面影响和抗生素抗性的日益增加的威胁，期望开发不向环境中释放额外的杀生物剂并且可以被已经常规使用的杀生物剂反复再活化以杀生物的杀生物涂层，并且开发可以潜在地用作抗生素的替代物并且不诱导细菌抗性的抗菌材料。N-氯胺是指一组具有N-Cl单键的化合物，其中Cl带有部分正电荷并且是氧化性的。在杀死细菌后，N-氯胺被转化为它们的前体胺/酰胺，这些前体胺/酰胺可以通过氯漂白剂再次转化为N-氯胺。重要的是，没有报道细菌对N-氯胺的耐药性。然而，关于N-氯胺技术仍然存在许多基本问题。目前的提案描述了一项研究计划，该计划发明了新的基于N-氯胺的抗菌材料，并研究了它们与腐蚀诱导菌和致病菌的相互作用，为开发新一代在工业和医疗保健领域具有巨大用途的功能性杀菌材料奠定了坚实的基础。我们将开发新的N-氯胺基抗菌涂料，可抵抗蛋白质，并可通过非常稀的氯（1- 90 ppm）再生，以及N-氯胺基选择性杀生物纳米颗粒，不太可能诱导细菌耐药性。这项拟议的研究计划预计将为成功开发1）创新的可充电抗菌涂层奠定坚实的基础，该涂层可应用于各种表面，以最大限度地减少细菌引起的腐蚀，环境和食品加工过程中的细菌传播，以及2）细菌选择性杀生物纳米颗粒作为抗生素替代品。我们的研究结果将是显着的兴趣，抗菌材料社区，因为它将代表一个新的角度来解决细菌污染，并阐明接触杀死机制。该研究计划将继续使我的研究小组成为抗菌功能材料领域的国际领导者。该研究将为2名博士，2名硕士和5名理学士学生提供机会，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.