title: Surpassing nature: rational design of sterile-surface materials.
abstract: The rise of multidrug-resistant pathogens and recalcitrance of biofilm infections present a formidable challenge to combating infectious diseases. There are numerous disinfectants and antiseptics for treating materials in hospitals and community settings, and devices such as catheters impregnated with anti-infectives have been introduced into practice. However, there are many limitations of materials impregnated with a leaching antibacterial agent. Recently, non-leaching, permanent, sterile-surface materials have been developed in which one end of a long-chained hydrophobic polycation containing antimicrobial monomers is attached covalently to the surface of a material, for example, cotton or plastic. The polymeric chain allows the antimicrobial moieties to permeate into, and kill, the cells of the pathogen. These sterile-surface materials kill both air- and waterborne pathogens and are not susceptible to existing resistance mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. k.lewis@neu.edu
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Klibanov
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D013242:Sterilization; D013499:Surface Properties