Non-Technical: This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to University of Houston is to carry out research that will provide new insights to the process of biofilm formation, which will be invaluable for the development of strategies to prevent pathogen colonization and to promote the formation of benign or 'antimicrobial' biofilms. Colonization by pathogenic bacteria and the subsequent formation of biofilms on hosts, materials, and devices have a tremendous negative impact on human health and the environment. The proposed research is to develop a new strategy that uses benign bacteria to form a high coverage and stable biofilm on silicone surfaces to prevent biofilm formation by pathogenic bacteria. Graduate and undergraduate students involved in the project will be trained in many cutting-edge research skills and fields. Additionally, one undergraduate student per year will be recruited and mentored under the 'teachHouston' program at the campus to train as K-12 teachers in STEM topics. This program was established to address the critical shortage of K-12 science teachers. Students in the program not only do research in the researcher's laboratory, but also teach at local schools from their first year. The goal of the program is to provide high quality research experience to the future teachers so that they can better inspire young minds to scientific inquiry. Towards this end, this investigator will help these students to develop education modules related to their research projects for use in high school science classes.
Biofilm formation by pathogenic microbes is involved in most bacterial diseases, especially biomedical device-associated infections. Pathogens enclosed in biofilms are protected from host immune defense and antimicrobial agents. Hence, they are difficult to eradicate, resulting in recurrent infections and facilitating the development of multidrug resistance. The overarching goal of the proposed research is to develop a new strategy to prevent biofilm formation on silicone surfaces used in urinary catheters and associated bacterial infection. This strategy uses benign bacteria to form a high coverage and stable biofilm on silicone surfaces as a live base to fight against pathogens. The objectives of the proposed research are to modify silicone surfaces with adhesion molecules to enable benign bacteria to form high coverage and stable biofilms, and to investigate the bacterial responses to the immobilized adhesion molecules during the biofilm formation process. The new understanding will guide the development of benign biofilms to fight against pathogens. Students involved in the project will be trained in this multidisciplinary area. To train future science teachers, one undergraduate student per year will be recruited from the 'teachHouston' program at the campus, and will be trained as teachers in education modules for use in high school chemistry and biology classes, in addition to their research activities in the researcher's laboratory.
