Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC partnered)

This research addresses serious challenge in hospital acquired infections: the prevention of bacterial infections associated with ureteral stents. Ureteral stents are commonly used by a urology surgeon in the treatment of kidney stone and ureter problem associated with cancer, infection etc. Urinary devices account for >80% of hospital acquired infections which are difficult to treat. In addition to increased mortality, these complications add millions of extra health care costs. Currently, antibiotics are our only method of attempting to deal with these infections, but do not work well due to intrinsic multidrug resistance of biofilms on stent surface. The project is based on the latest breakthroughs at UBC on the development of a novel universal coating method to prevent bacterial attachment and protein binding, and the discovery of novel short broad spectrum anti-bioflim peptides (ABPs). This project will discover and invent novel technologies which can prevent infection and other stent related complications by developing a novel coating on the ureteral stent surface which will prevent bacterial growth, deposition of biological molecules on the stent surface from urine and with excellent biocompatibility. We anticipate that the technologies developed will help >3 million Canadians who needs urological intervention. The project will establish a strong collaboration among natural science, and medicine, and provide unique HQP training opportunities. The novel anti-infection coatings will also provide a general method for preventing infections associated with other medical devices.