Finding a weakness in how bacteria grow on medical devices, to prevent infection

Preventing protein-mediated staphylococcal biofilms on medical devices: structural characterization of three extracellular targets

Advances in research and technology have led to the development of a wide range of medical devices used to treat heart disease. Devices like pacemakers, prosthetic heart valves and stents may be placed inside patients’ bodies for years. Unfortunately, having a man-made device implanted can leave people at higher risk of infection, because bacteria can grow and form colonies known as ‘biofilms’ on the device surface. Biofilms made by the common Staphylococcus bacteria can be resistant to antibiotics, and may be life-threatening. Dr Michael Plevin and his colleagues have identified proteins on the surface of Staphylococcus that enable the bacteria to stick together tightly in these dense biofilms. In this project they intend to find out the precise structures of these proteins. They will then disrupt individual sections of the proteins and see what the effect on the bacteria is, to confirm which parts are crucial for colony formation. By understanding exactly how Staphylococcus join together in biofilms, Dr Plevin hopes to expose a weakness in the bacteria. In the future, medicines may be designed to hit this target, and prevent medical devices becoming hosts for bacteria. This could help to protect people with medical devices from life-threatening infections.