Microbial adhesion to medical devices is common for hospital-acquired infections, particularly for urinary catheters. If not properly treated these infections cause complications and exacerbate antimicrobial resistance. Catheter use elicits bladder inflammation, releasing host serum proteins, including fibrinogen (Fg), into the bladder, which deposit on the urinary catheter.
This content will become publicly available on January 5, 2025
Bacteria can swim upstream in a narrow tube and pose a clinical threat of urinary tract infection to patients implanted with catheters. Coatings and structured surfaces have been proposed to repel bacteria, but no such approach thoroughly addresses the contamination problem in catheters. Here, on the basis of the physical mechanism of upstream swimming, we propose a novel geometric design, optimized by an artificial intelligence model. Using
- Award ID(s):
- 2330702
- PAR ID:
- 10509522
- Publisher / Repository:
- Science
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Advances
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2375-2548
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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