Ultralow adhesion silicone coatings to reduce rates of biofilm formation and associated infection

“医院获得性感染”是指患者在医院内因受污染的医疗设备或因将健康组织暴露于外部细菌的程序而获得的感染。这些继发性感染通常很难治疗，特别是最近抗生素耐药性的上升，并且通常会导致住院时间延长，医疗费用高昂，甚至死亡。该项目旨在开发基于自润滑机制的具有先进的防污和防粘附表面性能的有机硅涂料。我们的目标是开发这些高度不粘，光滑的涂层，用于医疗管道（导管），以显着降低细菌附着到表面的速度。我们以前的结果表明这些表面处理是非常有效的，我们相信它们可以大大降低医院获得性感染的发生率。

'Hospital acquired infections' refer to infections that patients acquire within hospitals due to contaminated medical devices, or dueto procedures that expose healthy tissue to external bacteria. These secondary infections can often be very hard to treat,especially with a recent rise in antibiotic resistance, and can often lead to extended hospital stays, significant healthcare costs andeven death. This project aims to develop silicone-based coatings that have advanced non-fouling and anti-adhesive surfaceproperties, based on a self-lubricating mechanism. We aim to develop these highly non-stick, slippery coatings for medical tubing(catheters) to significantly reduce rates of bacterial attachment to the surface. Our previous results show these surface treatmentsare highly effective, and we believe they could greatly reduce rates of hospital acquired infection.