{"596719":{"#nid":"596719","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Discovering Novel Bacterial-Biofilm-Resistant Materials for the Prevention of Medical-Device-Associated Infections","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch3\u003EA School of Biological Sciences Seminar by Paul Williams, Professor of Microbiology, University of Nottingham\u003C\/h3\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEDITOR\u0026#39;S NOTE: This announcement first appeared in the School of Biological Sciences website. For updates, check the\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/biosci.gatech.edu\/news-events\/events\/720\u0022\u003E original posting\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbstract\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nHealthcare-associated infections are the most frequent adverse events in hospitals. Many such infections involve implanted medical devices such as catheters. When bacteria attach to these devices, they form biofilms, which\u0026nbsp;are much more tolerant to antibiotics and host defenses than individual bacterial cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMost strategies to reduce device-associated infections have focused on coating devices with antimicrobials, such as\u0026nbsp;silver or antibiotics. Greater success could be achieved by using materials exhibiting intrinsic resistance to bacterial attachment. Such materials would\u0026nbsp;avoid problems associated with antimicrobial impregnation, including leaching and resistance.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo address this \u0026quot;materials gap,\u0026quot;\u0026nbsp;we have developed a high-throughput combinatorial microarray methodology that has enabled us to screen thousands of homo- and co-polymers for new biofilm-resistant materials. The \u0026quot;hits\u0026quot;\u0026nbsp;represent a class of resistant materials that could not have been predicted from our current understanding of bacteria-surface interactions. Consequently we are exploring structure-function relationships from both the material surface and bacterial-sensing perspectives.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EABOUT THE SPEAKER\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nPaul Williams is Professor of Molecular Microbiology in the School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham\u0026nbsp;In 1996, he was appointed to the directorship of the Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation. In 2008,\u0026nbsp;he\u0026nbsp;became head of the School of Molecular Medical Sciences, University of Nottingham.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHis research interests focus primarily on the regulation of gene expression in bacteria through cell-cell communication (quorum sensing) and the development of new\u0026nbsp;antibacterial agents and bacterial-attachment-resistant polymers.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWilliams is a member of the MRC Infection and Immunity board, a member of the EU Joint Programming Initiative in Antimicrobial Resistance, and a Wellcome Trust senior investigator, He is co-director of the new Wellcome Trust Ph.D. Training Programme in Antimicrobials and Antimicrobial Resistance, which is jointly shared by the University of Nottingham and University of Birmingham.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nottingham.ac.uk\/CBS\/People\/paul.williams\u0022\u003EMore on Paul Williams\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMany healthcare-associated infections involve implanted medical devices such as catheters. When bacteria attach to these devices, they form biofilms, which\u0026nbsp;are much more tolerant to antibiotics and host defenses than are individual bacterial cells. New materials can reduce these infections.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A School of Biological Sciences Seminar by Paul Williams, University of Nottingham"}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2017-09-29 22:15:15","changed_gmt":"2017-09-29 22:37:22","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2017-10-12T11:55:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2017-10-12T12:55:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2017-10-12T12:55:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2017-10-12 15:55:00","gmt_time_end":"2017-10-12 16:55:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2017-10-12 16:55:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"596720":{"id":"596720","type":"image","title":"Paul Williams, University of Nottingham","body":null,"created":"1506724351","gmt_created":"2017-09-29 22:32:31","changed":"1506724351","gmt_changed":"2017-09-29 22:32:31","alt":"","file":{"fid":"227439","name":"Paul_Williams.Nottingham.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Paul_Williams.Nottingham.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Paul_Williams.Nottingham.png","mime":"image\/png","size":76126,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Paul_Williams.Nottingham.png?itok=wBIOwiCP"}}},"media_ids":["596720"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"175245","name":"Paul Williams"},{"id":"168156","name":"Steve Diggle"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:stephen.diggle@biosci.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESteve Diggle\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}