Development of Functional Materials for Battling Bacterial Contamination

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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.