Immobilization of bacteriophages on implants with plasma deposited organic coatings

植入式医疗器械的性能通常可以通过表面工程程序来改善，该程序允许调节表面化学以改善与周围生物介质的相互作用，或者允许移植将具有直接影响的活性元素。我们的实验室已经开发出一种灵活的表面工程程序，可以实现这两种效果。我们使用冷等离子体（放电产生的电离气体）来存款含有氮、氧和硫官能团的有机涂层。我们的方法是将成膜气体（如乙烯）与杂原子源（如氨）混合，并在等离子体中激活这些气体以引发有机涂层的形成。这些有机涂层的性能可以通过工艺参数如气体成分来调节。涂层中的官能团可以通过控制蛋白质粘附间接影响细胞过程，也可以用作化学锚来共价键合活性分子。已经开发出一种技术，将噬菌体附着在钛植入物的表面，以防止植入后的感染。他们使用等离子体沉积的有机涂层，以促进附件的电子邮件。然而，他们的方法涉及有毒和腐蚀性气体，在涂层性能方面提供有限的可调节性。此外，由于是通过国际分包商完成的，他们对这种方法的使用有限。我们提出了一项研究合作，以开发和优化一种程序，使用我们高度可调的等离子体聚合涂层将噬菌体附着到钛样品上。一个成功的程序的开发将启动一个长期的合作，包括钛植入物的体内测试，而Phagelux扩大其在加拿大的研究活动。

The performance of implantable medical devices can often be improved by a surface engineering procedureallowing to either tune the surface chemistry to improve interactions with surrounding biological media or tograft active elements that will have a direct effect. Our laboratory has developed a flexible surface engineeringprocedure that can achieve either of these effects. We use cold plasma (an ionized gas produced as anelectrical discharge) to deposit organic coatings containing nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur functional groups. Ourmethod is to mix a film forming gas, such as ethylene, with a source of heteroatom, such at ammonia, and toactivate those gasses in a plasma to trigger the formation of organic coatings. The properties of these organiccoatings can be adjusted with the process parameters, such as gas composition. The functional groups in thecoatings can either indirectly affect cell processes by governing protein adhesion or be used as chemicalanchors to covalently bond active molecules.Our proposed industrial partner, Phagelux (Canada) Inc. has developed a technology to attach bacteriophages tothe surface of titanium implants to prevent infection following implantation. They have used plasma depositedorganic coating to favor the attachment of the phages. However, their method involves toxic and corrosivegasses offering limited adjustability in terms of coating properties. Moreover, they have limited accessibility tothe method as it is done through an international subcontractant. We propose a research collaboration todevelop and optimize a procedure to attach bacteriophages to titanium samples using our highly tunable plasmapolymerized coatings. The development of a successful procedure would initiate a long-term collaborationinvolving in-vivo testing of the titanium implants while Phagelux expands its research activities in Canada.