# Durable fluid-like surface for sustainable biofilm inhibition

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS · 2024 · $78,000

## Abstract

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) account for more than 30% of acute care hospital infections.
Bacterial pathogens initially colonize and form biofilm on the catheters, and invade the bladder and eventually
the upper urinary tracts. Prolonged catheterization (~30 days) can increase the chance of CAUTIs to 100%.
Antibiotics prescribed for symptomatic CAUTIs are frequently unable to kill bacteria within the biofilm. Therefore,
inhibiting biofilm formation will significantly reduce the chance of CAUTIs. Catheter biofilms are often
polymicrobial with mixed bacterial communities. Durable biosurface coatings would be an advantageous
approach to inhibit biofilm formation without external control. Existing anti-bacterial surfaces include bactericidal
surfaces (e.g., antimicrobial peptide or silver modified surfaces) and anti-biofouling surfaces (e.g., hydrogel or
poly(ethyleneglycol) based polymer coatings), but all existing approaches are unable to inhibit biofilm
formation on catheters for a prolonged period. Here, we propose a conceptually new fluid-like and non-sticky
biosurface, namely a quasi-liquid surface, which can potentially inhibit biofilm for over 30 days. The quasi-liquid
surface will be made by tethering flexible polymer onto catheter materials with chemical bonding. The untethered
end is highly mobile and behave like a fluid. The innovation is to change the solid/bacterial interaction to quasi-
liquid/bacterial interaction and inhibit polymicrobial biofilm without directly killing bacteria. Our central
hypothesis is that the fluid-like surface will prevent protein adsorption and inhibit polymicrobial biofilm as an
integrated community during long-term catheterization. We will validate the hypothesis with two aims: (1) to study
the mechanism of E. coli biofilm inhibition, and (2) to validate biofilm inhibition of clinical isolates (i.e.,
uropathogenic strains) on the quasi-liquid surface. The team includes PI Dai at UT Dallas with expertise in
biosurfaces and microfluidics, Co-I Palmer with expertise in microbiology and antibiotic resistance in pathogenic
bacteria, and our collaborator Zimmern at UT Southwestern Medical Center with expertise in the management
of complicated UTIs in a variety of clinical settings. This two-year project aims to inhibit polymicrobial biofilm over
30 days that is challenging by a microbiological approach alone. The development of this novel quasi-liquid
surface and the understanding of the quasi-liquid/bacterial interaction will not only benefit the management of
CAUTIs but also open new avenues to better combat biofilms forming on other human implant devices.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10877731
- **Project number:** 5R03AI175720-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS DALLAS
- **Principal Investigator:** Xianming Dai
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $78,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10877731

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10877731, Durable fluid-like surface for sustainable biofilm inhibition (5R03AI175720-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10877731. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*