NEW YORK, NY - Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) have developed an innovative anti-biofilm coating that has significant anti-adhesive potential for a variety of medical and industrial applications.

According to the research published in Advanced Materials Interfaces, anti-adhesive patches that are developed from naturally occurring biomaterials can prevent destructive bacterial biofilm from forming on metal surfaces when they are immersed in water and other damp environments.

“Our solution addresses a pervasive need to design environmentally friendly materials to impede dangerous surface bacteria growth,” the BGU researchers from the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering explain. “This holds tremendous potential for averting biofilm formed by surface-anchored bacteria and could have a tremendous impact.”

The anti-adhesive could be used on medical implants, devices and surgical equipment where bacteria can contribute to chronic diseases, resist antibiotic treatment and thereby compromise the body’s defense system. The prevention of aquatic biofouling on ships and bridges is one of the industrial applications.

The BGU researchers who participated in the study from the Avram and Stella Goldstein-Goren Department of Biotechnology Engineering are Dr. Karina Goldberg, Professor Noa Emuna, Professor Dorit van Moppes, Professor T. P. Vinod, Professor Robert Marks, Professor Ariel Kushmaro, and Professor Shoshana Malis Arad. Marks and Kushmaro are members of BGU’s Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, and are also visiting researchers at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

This work was supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation under the CREATE program: Nanomaterials for Energy and Water Management; a Levi Eshkol scholarship from the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology; and by a Shimona Geresh award.