I-Corps: Commercialization of an Enzymatic Method for Biofilm Removal

细菌已经进化出了各种各样的策略，以粘附在金属和其他物理表面上并在其上生长。致病细菌产生一种保护性涂层，称为生物膜，它保护细菌免受化学处理，同时允许它们附着在这些物理表面上。这对包装食品、药品和消费品以及医疗器械的制造业产生了重大的经济和健康影响。一个具体的例子是在美国由细菌引起的食源性疾病对健康的影响，在医疗、失业、由此造成的残疾和死亡方面的估计费用每年至少为550亿美元。此外，在整个食品生产过程中防止细菌污染提出了几个独特的挑战。 虽然行业和政府都认为需要解决越来越多的食品感染问题，但家禽加工商拒绝接受，认为这将是昂贵的，最终是徒劳的，因为沙门氏菌是如此普遍。“因此，解决这一问题和其他类似挑战的有效方案必须（1）提供针对广泛细菌病原体的广泛活性，因为它们在整个制造过程中普遍存在，以及（2）以符合当前制造工艺的成本效益的方式做到这一点。其是对广泛的微生物生物膜表现出广泛的生物膜降解活性的生物分子。这些酶在商业消毒剂中使用的常见添加剂存在下保留活性，使其适合作为食品，制药和其他制造过程中的生物相容性消毒剂。所提出的技术直接解决了一个关键的，未满足的需求，以改善水质，食品安全，多药耐药性，从而通过开发基于酶的技术，可以去除生物膜，这是一个主要因素，有助于多药耐药性和持久性的社会福祉。I-Corps计划将使团队能够确定每次使用的有效成本，这是衡量拟议方法相对于当前酶技术的有效性的关键。

Bacteria have evolved a wide range of strategies to adhere to and grow on metallic and other physical surfaces. Disease causing bacteria produce a protective coating, known as biofilm, which shields the bacteria from chemical treatments while at the same time allowing them to attach to these physical surfaces. This has a major economic and health impact on manufacturing of packaged foods, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods as well as medical devices. A specific example is the health impact of foodborne illnesses caused by bacteria in the United States, where the estimated cost in terms of medical treatments, loss of work, resultant disability and mortality is at least $55 billion a year. Furthermore, preventing bacterial contamination throughout the food manufacturing process presents several unique challenges. While both industry and government agree that a solution to the increasing number of infections from food products is required, 'poultry processors have resisted, arguing that it would be expensive and ultimately futile, because Salmonella is so pervasive.' Thus, an effective solution to this and other similar challenges must (1) provide broad activity against a wide range of bacterial pathogens due to their prevalence throughout the manufacturing process and (2) do so in a cost-effective manner compatible with current manufacturing processes.This I-Corps team has developed a series of engineered enzymes, which are biological molecules that exhibit broad biofilm-degrading activity against a wide range of microbial biofilms. The enzymes retain activity in the presence of common additives used in commercial disinfectants, making them suitable as biocompatible disinfectants in food, pharmaceutical and other manufacturing processes. The proposed technology directly addresses a critical, unmet need to improve water quality, food safety, multi-drug resistance and thus well being of society through the development of enzyme-based technologies that can remove biofilm, which is a major factor that contributes to multidrug resistance and persistence. The I-Corps program will enable the team to identify an effective cost per use, which is key in benchmarking the effectiveness of the proposed approach relative to current enzyme technologies.