ANTIBACTERIAL MINERAL MAPPING: A NEW ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

探索性研究有力地证明了某些天然粘土矿物是有效的抗菌药物，本研究将考察控制抗菌矿床形成和稳定性的地质环境，进一步探索抗菌机理。主要目标是描述天然粘土矿物能够杀死细菌和促进愈合的科学基础，从而验证天然粘土作为细菌感染的经济治疗方法的使用。将构建一个矿床中抗菌矿物的详细野外地图，以确定抗菌区。该矿床的矿物学将与世界上其他抗菌粘土样品进行比较，并使用统计分析来确定共同的主要成分。将对代表常见传染病的革兰氏阴性和革兰氏阳性细菌进行已确定的矿物学/地球化学成分的抗菌试验。研究结果在抗菌敷料中具有广泛的应用前景；伤口护理管理、个人护理和动物护理市场。利用各种地球化学、矿物学和微生物学方法来评估矿物-微生物的相互作用，我们的研究结果将为控制矿物诱导的杀菌剂的化学条件提供见解。最后，我们将使用超高分辨率（50nm）离子成像（NanoSIMS）来显示单个细胞内的生物分子被杀菌反应改变的位置。这些结果可能会导致新的设计，以控制抗生素耐药感染和疾病，没有已知的治疗剂。

With strong evidence from exploratory research supporting that certain natural clay minerals are effective antimicrobial agents, this research will examine the geological environment controlling formation and stability of antibacterial mineral deposits and further explore the antibacterial mechanism. The primary goal is to delineate the scientific basis by which natural clay minerals are able to kill bacteria and promote healing, therefore validating the use of natural clays as an economical treatment for bacterial infections. A detailed field map of antibacterial minerals in one deposit will be constructed to identify antibacterial zones. The mineralogy of this deposit will be compared to other antibacterial clay samples worldwide, with statistical analysis used to identify the principal components in common. Antibacterial testing of the identified mineralogical/geochemical components will be performed on Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria representative of common infectious diseases. The results could have broad-reaching applications in topical antimicrobial dressings; wound care management, personal care, and animal care markets. Using a variety of geochemical, mineralogical and microbiological approaches to assess the mineral-microbe interactions, our results will provide insights to the chemical conditions controlling the mineral induced bactericide. Finally, we will use ultra-high resolution (50nm) ion imaging (NanoSIMS) to show where biomolecules within a single cell are being altered by bactericidal reactions. These results may lead to new designs for controlling antibiotic-resistant infections and diseases for which there are no known therapeutic agents.