Biofilm matrices formed by irreversibly surface anchored bacteria cause significant economic damage in the industrial and biomedical environments. Biofilms can form on such surfaces as medical implants, indwelling devices, and surgical equipment. The ubiquity of such biofilms promotes increased investment in the development of technologies that will impede bacteria-surface association. BGU biotechnology researchers have done just that. They have generated novel biomaterials that integrate naturally occurring anti-adhesive biopolymers with specific metal ions to improve the chemical, physical and biological properties of these anti-adhesive surfaces.
The researchers from the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering used X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry to obtain prefatory information regarding the chemical compositions of the coatings and the interactions between coating components. Then they developed algal-secreted polysaccharide (Ps) biomaterial patches and metal complex films (MCF) with anti-Acinetobacter baumannii and anti-Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm properties. Polysaccharide moderately reduces biofilm formation, while the polysaccharide cupper complex film coating has shown significant anti-biofilm activity. Polysaccharide cupper complex film surface morphology comprises protruding needle-like structures up to 100 nm in height and may cause membrane damage in the settling bacteria, preventing their attachment.
Polysaccharide cupper complex films fabricated with thermal and pressure stability to prevent metal ion leakage hold promise for a broad spectrum of industrial and medical anti-biofilm applications.
The researchers, Profs.Karina Golberg, Noa Emuna, T. P. Vinod, Dorit van Moppes, Robert S. Marks, Shoshana Malis Arad, and Ariel Kushmaro have just published their findings in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces.
Profs. Marks and Kushmaro are also members of the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. They are also visiting researchers at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
This work was supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under the CREATE program: Nanomaterials for Energy and Water Management; a Levi Eshkol scholarship from the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology and Shimona Geresh award.
K. Golberg, N. Emuna, T. P. Vinod, D. van Moppes, R. S. Marks, S. M. Arad and A. Kushmaro*. 2016. Novel Anti-Adhesive Biomaterial Patches: Preventing Biofilm Using Metal Complex Films (MCF) Derived from a Microalgal Polysaccharide. Advanced Materials Interfaces (2016-03).
DOI: 10.1002/admi.201500486
Above: AFM surface topography and 3-D images of the Polysaccharide cupper complex film
Above: SEM micrographs of A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa (PA14), S. marcescens and P.stuartii biofilm architectures. The untreated control surface shows intricate bacteria densely embedded in the matrix. Biofilms were grown statically on the different surfaces.
