Interaction of biological targets with solid dielectric layers consisting of silver nanoparticles embedded in silica matrices: Towards tailored antimicrobial surfaces – BENDIS

The emergence and selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is an ever increasing Public Health problem. Microbial adhesion and subsequent biofilm formation are at the origin of hospital-acquired infections, often leading to septic complications and lethal issues, and entailing large economical losses for the health-care systems. This threat is of particular concern when compared with the very limited number of new antimicrobial agents in the pipeline of the pharmaceutical industry. BENDIS project is conceived with objectives pointing this urgent problem. It aims to exploit in an original manner the antimicrobial properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) embedded in silica. Our ambition is to develop “nano-safer by design” coupled systems, intended to provide controlled antimicrobial activity of AgNPs over long time. The BENDIS project objectives are: (i) to identify the key molecular mechanisms responsible for adhesion of microorganisms on dielectric surfaces, (ii) to assess the conditioning role of proteins in the microbial adhesion/proliferation, (iii) to reveal as how the embedded in silica AgNPs alter the protein/cell adhesion and biofilm formation through the release of Ag+ and/or AgNPs and (iv) to evaluate the controlled antimicrobial efficiency of tailored by AgNPs surfaces. BENDIS project benefits from the synergy of knowledge and expertise of scientists from three academic partners in Toulouse: material scientists, physicists and physico-chemists from LAPLACE, material scientists, physicists and biochemists from CEMES, and microbiologists and chemists from LGC. A significant impact of the project shall be to suggest strategic orientations to the scientific and engineering communities involved in the conception and design of materials and devices for the medical domain. It is expected from BENDIS project to give a powerful impulse to the conception of AgNPs-tailored antimicrobial surfaces with reduced health and environmental impacts, to be applied as biocontamination inhibitors in the health-care domain and globally in the Public Health. These AgNPs-tailored nanocomposite layers will also be of particular interest to coating manufacturers for industrial sectors requiring preservation of the sanitary state in confined or inaccessible spaces. Thus BENDIS project is in line with both the national action plan on Antimicrobial resistance and the one developed by the World Health Organization, as well as is replying to epidemic or pandemic risks for emergent pathogens, including SARS-CoV2.