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Updated: Nov 17, 2025

High-throughput Identification of Bacteria Repellent Polymers for Medical Devices
Published on: November 5, 2016
Amphiphilic polymer therapeutics: an alternative platform in the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria
Haruko Takahashi1, Gregory A Caputo2, Kenichi Kuroda3
1Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan. harukot@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
Abstract:
As we are on the cusp of the "post-antibiotic" era due to rapid spread of drug resistant bacteria, there is an urgent need for new antimicrobials that are not susceptible to bacterial resistance mechanisms. In this review, we will discuss the recent development of "polymer therapeutics" with antimicrobial activity. Learning from host-defence peptides, we propose the biomimetic design of synthetic polymers to target bacterial cell membranes, which act by compromising the membrane integrity. The discussion is extended to the future challenges and opportunities of antimicrobial polymers for clinical applications.
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