Highly Tuned Polymer Surfaces and Modified Polyserotonin Nanoparticle in inhibition of Bacterial Adhesion

The rise of pathogens increasingly resistant to all known antibiotics is becoming an alarming and pressing health care problem. Despite considerable efforts towards finding new antibiotics with novel targets; bacteria will eventually develop resistance against these new classes of drugs. Designing alternative therapeutics with much improved efficacy?without conferring further resistance?is therefore warranted. My research proposal aims to contribute to this global effort by employing polyserotonin nanoparticles (PSeNPs) as an anti-bacterial agent. Through my Mitacs Globalink host, I will decorate the surface of my PSeNPs with polymers exhibiting antifouling properties, tuned for different grafting densities. The resulting polymer-modified PSeNP (PM-PSNP), along with PSeNPs’ intrinsic bacterial-killing property, will then be tested for its anti-adhesion/anti-microbial activities against S. mutans, an oral pathogen responsible for dental caries. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Ruby Sullan

Student:

Partner:

Queensland University of Technology

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: