Patchy Sweet Bullets Against Bacteria

The surface properties of bacteria from the same strain significantly vary across different growth phases. Despite bacterial surfaces being negatively charged in general, there exists pronounced phenotypic heterogeneity within the clonal bacterial population for adhesion to surfaces and cells. Previous attempts to target bacterial surfaces using polyvalent glycosystems primarily emphasized interactions with lectins situated on the bacterial surface. However, bacteria even lacking these adhesive lectins can bind to cells, and cause infections. Given this backdrop, our project centres on engineering heterogeneous glycosystems with patchy attributes of glycan epitopes and positive charges, aiming to simultaneously target varied bacterial populations with high selectivity index over host cells. Engineering such heterogeneous patchy systems will begin with the design and synthesis of glycosylated and positively charged hydrophilic nanoparticles and polymers based 3D nanogels. In addition to the morphological and mechanical characteristics of these materials through SEM, AFM, and rheology assessments, the efficacy of heterogeneous and homogeneous patchy adhesives will be tested against different bacterial strains in Microbiology and Infectious Disease, ILS1. This innovative approach will address the complexity of bacterial adhesion and enhance our ability to counteract heterogeneous bacterial communities.