Abstract
Bacterial adhesion and the formation of biofilms cause challenges across healthcare and almost every sector of industry. These impacts range from mechanical failures of affected systems to persistent infections in the human body that resist treatment. Current efforts to combat bacterial adhesion are unable to achieve complete elimination, leading to subsequent accumulation. This work focuses on developing a system for resisting initial bacterial adhesion, preventing subsequent biofilm formation by incorporating zwitterionic crosslinkers into polyampholyte polymer systems.
The first part of this work focuses on formulation of the polyampholyte system to optimize resistance to bacterial adhesion. Characterization of physical properties was performed, and bacterial resistance was evaluated. The zwitterionic crosslinked polyampholyte hydrogels showed excellent resistance to bacterial adhesion even during long duration experiments.
The second part of this work shifts the focus to applying the polyampholyte system coupled with a zwitterionic crosslinker as a thin film layer to a metal substrate. Concentration of surface coupler chemistry and coating application conditions were evaluated for the optimization of bacterial resistant surface conditions. The impacts of surface coupler and spincoating applications will be discussed.
The final part of this work focuses on the ability of the engineered polyampholyte system to perform under both simulated microgravity and true microgravity conditions. The highest performing system was the polyampholyte polymer coupled with a novel zwitterionic crosslinker showing significant promise for application both on Earth and in spacecraft under microgravity conditions.