Polymeric micelles for the dispersal of infectious biofilms

Multi-drug resistance amongst pathogenic bacteria is becoming a growing threat to human health. A factor contributing to the recalcitrance of infectious bacteria is their growth in a biofilm. Biofilms protect bacteria against antibiotics and host immune cells. As a part of the biofilm cycle of life, bacteria can be dispersed from biofilms to initiate colonization elsewhere after circulating through the blood. During this stage, bacteria are more susceptible to antibiotics and immune cells compared with their counterparts living in a biofilm. Accordingly, biofilm dispersal initiated by synthetically derived dispersants is regarded more and more as an emerging strategy to combat biofilm-related infections in combination with or without the use of existing antibiotics. In this thesis, we have developed novel nanoparticles that function as synthetic dispersants or enable targeted delivery of dispersants to infectious biofilms. Precise delivery is envisioned to balance dispersal with the ability of the immune system to deal with dispersed bacteria to avoid the concurrent use of antibiotics or enhance concurrent antibiotic killing. A dispersal index was introduced to provide guidance on achieving balanced biofilm dispersal.