Journal article

Rational Design of Single-Chain Polymeric Nanoparticles That Kill Planktonic and Biofilm Bacteria

TK Nguyen, SJ Lam, KKK Ho, N Kumar, GG Qiao, S Egan, C Boyer, EHH Wong

ACS Infectious Diseases | Published : 2017

Abstract

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria are on the rise and, therefore, new antimicrobial agents are required to prevent the onset of a postantibiotic era. In this study, we develop new antimicrobial compounds in the form of single-chain polymeric nanoparticles (SCPNs) that exhibit excellent antimicrobial activity against Gram-negative bacteria (e.g., Pseudomonas aeruginosa) at micromolar concentrations (e.g., 1.4 μM) and remarkably kill ≥99.99% of both planktonic cells and biofilm within an hour. Linear random copolymers, which comprise oligoethylene glycol (OEG), hydrophobic, and amine groups, undergo self-folding in aqueous systems due to intramolecular hydrophobic interactions ..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by UNSW Australia and the Australian Research Council via the 2016 UNSW Vice Chancellor's Research Fellowship (E.H.H.W.) and Future Fellowship (FT120100096, C.B.), respectively. We acknowledge the facilities and technical assistance provided by the Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre at UNSW Australia via the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility (Dr. Donald Thomas and Dr. Adelle Amore), Electron Microscope Unit (Yin Yao), and Biomedical Imaging Facility. We also acknowledge some of the facilities provided by the Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation at UNSW.