Can Superhydrophobic PET Surfaces Prevent Bacterial Adhesion?

Prevention of bacterial adhesion is a way to reduce and/or avoid biofilm formation, thus restraining its associated infections. The development of repellent anti-adhesive surfaces, such as superhydrophobic surfaces, can be a strategy to avoid bacterial adhesion. In this study, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film was modified by in situ growth of silica nanoparticles (NPs) to create a rough surface.

Host-Pathogen Adhesion as the Basis of Innovative Diagnostics for Emerging Pathogens.

Infectious diseases are an existential health threat, potentiated by emerging and re-emerging viruses and increasing bacterial antibiotic resistance. Targeted treatment of infectious diseases requires precision diagnostics, especially in cases where broad-range therapeutics such as antibiotics fail. There is thus an increasing need for new approaches to develop sensitive and specific in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests.

Exploring the potential of polyethylene terephthalate in the design of antibacterial surfaces.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most used polymeric materials in the health care sector mainly due to its advantages that include biocompatibility, high uniformity, mechanical strength and resistance against chemicals and/or abrasion. However, avoiding bacterial contamination on PET is still an unsolved challenge and two main strategies are being explored to overcome this drawback: the anti-adhesive and biocidal modification of PET surface. While bacterial adhesion depends on several surface properties namely surface charge and energy, hydrophilicity and surface roughness, a biocidal effect can be obtained by antimicrobial compounds attached to the surface to inhibit the growth of bacteria (bacteriostatic) or kill bacteria (bactericidal).

New solutions to capture and enrich bacteria from complex samples.

Current solutions to diagnose bacterial infections though reliable are often time-consuming, laborious and need a specific laboratory setting. There is an unmet need for bedside accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases with a short turnaround time. Moreover, low-cost diagnostics will greatly benefit regions with poor resources.