Surface treatments for drains to significantly reduce pathogen biofilms in hospitals**

医疗获得性感染（HAI）是患者在医院和诊所内接受的感染，估计每年有170万例感染，99，000例相关死亡和200亿美元的医疗费用（在美国）。HAI病原体（如铜绿假单胞菌和L.肺炎）感染通常由重症监护病房（ICU）和病房内受污染的水槽、排水沟和管道系统传播引起。此外，由于饮用水系统易受微生物污染，水传播疾病的爆发经常影响加拿大北方社区的居民。病原体生物膜在水槽和排水沟内的生长是医院内传染病传播的主要原因。尽管用漂白剂和其他消毒剂消毒，病原体还是习惯性地在管道系统中定植。在医院内，通常特别难以进入、清洁和更换可能藏匿细菌生物膜的排水管、存水弯和管道。在本提案中，我们的目标是测试和优化高度非粘性的有机硅涂层，该涂层可长期显著限制细菌生物膜生长（即，30天的连续流动培养生长是我们的标准测试）。此外，该提案旨在在我们的微生物实验室内建立和测试由我们的工业合作伙伴奥克维尔冲压和弯曲（OS&B）开发的整个水槽测试单元（2个水槽，连接）。*该项目代表了我们之间的独特合作伙伴关系，作为一个材料科学和微生物学小组，设计和测试这些涂层，OS&B作为一个管道，水槽和排水管制造商（OS&B），谁可以把这项技术推向商业应用。这种合作关系将解决这一重要的跨学科问题，我们投入巨资寻找可行的和真实的解决方案，以生物膜为基础的疾病的问题。

Healthcare acquired infections (HAIs) are infections that patients receive within hospitals and clinics, and account for an estimated 1.7 million infections, 99,000 associated deaths and $20 billion in healthcare costs each year (in the US). HAI pathogen (such as P. aeruginosa and L. pneumonia) infections are often caused by transmission from contaminated sinks, drains and plumbing systems within intensive care units (ICU) and patient rooms. Also, waterborne disease outbreaks often affect residents of northern Canadian communities due to the susceptibility of drinking water systems to microbial contamination. Pathogen biofilm growth within sinks and drains is a major cause of infectious disease transmission within hospitals. Despite disinfection with bleach and other disinfectants, pathogens habitually colonize plumbing systems. Within hospitals it is often particularly difficult to access, clean and replace the drains, traps and plumbing pipes that can harbour bacterial biofilms. In this proposal we aim to test and optimize a highly non-adhesive silicone coating that significantly limits bacterial biofilm growth over long periods of time (ie; 30 days of continuous flow culture growth is our standard test). Further, this proposal aims to set up and test a whole sink test unit (2 sinks, connected) within our microbiology lab, developed by our industrial partner, Oakville Stamping and Bending (OS&B).****This project represents a unique partnership between us, as a materials science and microbiology group to engineer and test these coatings, and OS&B as a pipe, sink and drain manufacturer (OS&B), who can take this technology towards commercial applications. This partnership will address this important, interdisciplinary problem, and we are heavily invested in finding feasible and real solutions to the problem of biofilm-based disease.**