Bioactive, biodegradable coatings for urinary medical devices

About the Project

The incidence of infection associated with indwelling medical devices is considerable and increases with the dwell time and location of the device. This results in significant morbidity and mortality. Following microbial colonisation on the surface of the device, a microbial biofilm is formed, an ecosystem that offers increased resistance to antimicrobial chemotherapy.

Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymers that are used as coatings for urinary medical devices. These are composed of a high proportion of water, which renders them biocompatible. Despite this, there are however two disadvantages to the use of these materials, namely low resistance to medical device-related infection and an inability to offer the controlled release of bioactive (antimicrobial) agents. Novel hydrogel materials have been designed within the School of Pharmacy whose surface may be programmed to degrade. In so doing, attached microorganisms and the more established microbial biofilm are shed into the urine and eliminated. This degradation results in a clean surface and thereby dramatically delay/inhibits the infection process.

This project will further develop these materials and examine the mechanism behind the observed chemical, degradation and biological properties. In addition, the ability of these systems to offer controlled drug delivery of antimicrobial agents will be examined.

This 3-year project will give extensive experience in materials science, pharmaceutical formulation, drug delivery and microbiology as part of an internationally funded research team.

Subject area

Pharmaceutical Engineering and Biomaterials Science

Candidate requirements / Key skills required for the post

Enthusiasm to develop new materials that may benefit human health

Background: Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences/Biotechnology, Chemistry, Material Science, Biomedical Engineering

Keywords for search filters

Infection, medical device, biodegradable polymers, degradation

Training provided through the research project

All training will be provided namely (a) pharmaceutical microbiology (b) pharmaceutical materials science (c) drug delivery (d) pharmaceutical analysis

Expected impact activities

It is expected to involve a medical device company to assist in the co-development of these materials for future clinical usage

Funding Notes

This project is not funded; applications are welcome from self-funding candidates.