Biofouling due to the attachment of proteins or microbial biofilms on surfaces is a ubiquitous problem that costs millions of dollars worthy of damages in industry and is the origin for many bacteria-associated diseases. This grant provides funding for the development of new surface chemistries and porous interfaces that can prevent the adsorption of proteins, adhesion of mammalian cells and the formation of biofilms, and thus can control the biofouling on different surfaces. Based on a new theory, this project enables the use of kosmotropes, which maintain the native structure of proteins, to prevent protein adsorption and biofouling on surfaces. Because the formation of biofilm progresses in two dimensions and in the vertical direction, a porous layer of hydrogel is designed to also address the three-dimensional nature of biofilm formation. This porous hydrogel is built by a recent development of water-in-water emulsion, which enables the use of enzymes to degrade the structure of biofilm, and drugs to inhibit the bacteria from forming a community (quorum sensing) that is the prerequisite for forming the biofilms.
Enabled by organic synthesis of new materials, the proposed research will decipher each of the multitudes in the biofouling problem: how the stereochemistry of the surface modification can influence protein adsorption, how a three-dimensional porous interfacial structure affects the formation of biofilm, and how to incorporate enzymatic and drug functions into structures to control biofoulings. When completed, this project will contribute to a more unifying understanding of the chemistry of biofouling including the three-dimensional nature of biofilms, and provide potentially general methods to control biofouling for both medical and industrial applications.
