High throughput micro arrays for discovery of polymers resistant to bacterial colonisation.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of patients with urinary catheters develop infections because bacteria cling to the plastic surface and form a protective film. This project aims to stop that by rapidly testing hundreds of novel polymer materials to find those that bacteria simply cannot stick to. The problem is that current catheter materials are vulnerable to bacterial colonisation, leading to biofilm formation that resists antibiotics and often forces device removal. Existing approaches to develop better materials are slow, testing one candidate at a time. The researchers have already screened a large library of polymers and identified a range of bacterial adhesion behaviours linked to surface wettability. They now plan to extend this high-throughput screening to hundreds of novel co-polymers, using a platform technology that can rapidly identify lead candidates. If successful, this could produce catheter materials that dramatically reduce infection rates, improving patient outcomes and cutting healthcare costs. Because the screening method is a platform technology, the same approach could identify bacteria-resistant materials for other indwelling devices—such as intravenous lines or orthopaedic implants—making it a broadly applicable tool for medical device manufacturing.