Department für Nanobiotechnologie (DNBT)

DNA polyelectrolyte multilayer coatings impaired biofilm formation of Staphylococcus while supporting osteoblast-like cell attachment. Thus these coatings could reduce infection risk while promoting host tissue cell attachment on implants in orthopedic and dental applications.

Bacterial infections contribute to the death of 200’000 people per year in the US and Europe alone, and they are a much worse scourge in developing countries. Multi-drug resistant bacteria are already a serious threat to human health, with far too few antibiotics in the pipeline to counter the rapidly increasing antibiotics resistance. We found that a novel class of physically acting antimicrobials, ionic liquids, can efficiently kill one of the worst multi-resistant bacterial species.

After a long wait during the pandemic, it is finally time to expand the institute again. Mr. Chizzola and Ms. Sathish have recently joined us to perform their Ph.D. thesis work within the Marie-Sklodowska Curie International Training Network STIMULUS. They will also be the first BIMat members of the BioMatInt doctoral school.