Grant: Project Grant

Urinary catheters are plastic (polymer) tubes inserted into the bladder to drain urine. Over 25% of hospitalized patients are catheterized during their stay. These tubes are a major cause of infection in hospitalized patients result in prolonged hospital stays with skyrocketing health care costs and may result in death. Currently, antibiotics are our only method of attempting to deal with these infections, but they do not work well due to the fact that bacteria can form special communities on the surface of the catheter-known as biofilms-which render the antibiotics ineffective. In addition bacteria can activate specialized mechanisms that inactivate antibiotics-to form antibiotics resistant bacteria-making them difficult to kill. The technology in our grant is the latest breakthrough at UBC based on the development of a special coating that is inspired by nature. Polydopamine is a substance that is very similar to what marine mussels use to attach to virtually any surface. When polydopamine is combined with a hydrophilic ("water-loving") polymer, it can prevent bacteria from attaching to the catheter surface. Our technique is to PREVENT bacterial adherence rather than trying to kill the bacteria. Our preliminary studies show that the new coating prevents the attachment of bacteria to the catheter surface in both test tubes and in a mouse model. However, we need to further test how effective the coating is against different types of bacteria using animal models. Furthermore, we need to ensure that the coating can be easily and safely produced and have good storage stability. The overall goal is to attract investment and prove that we can transfer this technology to other industries for use in the medical field. Although the current project is specifically looking at catheter infections, the data from this project will also provide a general method for preventing infections associated with other medical devices which is a major problem in our hospitals.