Fight Against Infections: Biofilms, MRSA, Funding [623733]

Fight Against Infections: Biofilms, MRSA, Funding
Dislodging Biofilms
Australian researchers have developed a technique that tricks bacterial biofilms, which form on living
tissues and on medical devices and are linked to 80% of infections, into dislodging from their
protective matrix, making them susceptible to treatment with antibiotics. The technique may have
broad applications across a range of clinical and industrial settings.
The study was jointly led by Associate Professor Cyrille Boyer of the School of Chemical Engineering,
University of New South Wales and deputy director of Australian Centre for NanoMedicine with Dr
Nicolas Barraud, formerly of UNSW and now at France's Institut Pasteur, and is published in the open
access journal Scientific Reports. Boyer explained that chronic biofilm-based infections are often
extremely resistant to antibiotics and many other conventional antimicrobial agents, and have a high
capacity to evade the body's immune system. He added: "Our study points to a pathway for the non-
toxic dispersal of biofilms in infected tissue, while also greatly improving the effect of antibiotic
therapies."
See Also:
Banishing Bacterial Biofilms

When biofilms want to colonise a new site, they disperse into individual cells. This reduces the
protective action of the biofilm. The researchers set out to trigger this process so that the bacteria
would be vulnerable to antimicrobial agents. The researchers discovered how to dislodge biofilms by
using the opportunistic human pathogen
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
. This is a model organism whose
response to the technique the researchers believe will apply to most other bacteria.They injected into
the biofilms iron oxide nanoparticles that were coated with polymers that help stabilise and maintain
the nanoparticles in a dispersed and non-toxic state. Using an applied magnetic field they heated the
nanoparticles and triggered the biofilms into dispersing.
S. Aureus
Captured on the Move
For the first time, a study from the University of Nottingham has captured
S. aureus
moving.
S.
aureus
, a spherical bacterium with no propulsive tail or appendages, up to now was considered to be
a static organism. The researchers
captured in a time-lapse video
using high powered microscopy
the progress of a ‘comet’ of
Staph aureus
cells moving across an agar surface over a period of 90
minutes from 8 hours post inoculation.This discovery could have implications for future clinical
treatments, say the researchers, led by Dr. Steve Diggle from the University of Nottingham. The
motility mechanism(s) of the bacteria could be a target for future vaccines and inhibitory
pharmaceutical compounds.
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If
S.aureus
has true motility as indicated by this research, says Dr. Diggle, it would be the first
example of a Gram-positive bacteria with a typical Gram-positive cell wall moving without flagella or
pili. Future research is needed into whether other Gram-positive organisms may be similarly motile.
Europe Lagging in Superbug Research Funding
National and European research funding in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is unbalanced
and underfunded, according to a study from the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial
Resistance, published in
Lancet Infectious Diseases
. The study mapped out antimicrobial resistance
research undertaken across 19 countries from 2007-13, identifying 1,243 projects with a total public
investment of €1.3 billion. The analysis showed that 66% of funding went to projects in the field of
therapeutics. Transmission received 9% of the funding, 14% of funding went to diagnostics, 5% to
interventions and only 2% was awarded to projects on antimicrobial resistance in the environment
and 4% in surveillance.
“National research investment is too low compared to that committed at European Union level. To
achieve greater impact, nations need to come together and pool available resources. This entails
working together in a more efficient way to increase the impact of research through strengthening
national and international coordination and collaborations as well as harmonising research activities
and national strategies. The results demonstrate the need for a Joint Programming Initiative on
Antimicrobial Resistance", said Herman Goossens, Chair of JPIAMR’s Science Advisor Board.
Sources:
UNSW
;
University of Nottingham
;
Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance
.
Image credit: Biofilm on catheter, UNSW
Published on : Tue, 22 Dec 2015
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