深夜福利国产精品

Urinary catheters are among the most commonly used medical devices in the world, but they come with a very serious problem, namely biofilm formation leading to infections. Protective layers of microbial growth can lead to catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), as well as related complications such as encrustation. CAUTIs are one of the most frequent hospital-acquired infections globally, causing significant patient suffering, prolonged hospital stays, and contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The team has developed a new surface treatment based on a zwitterionic polymer coating. These are molecules that carry both positive and negative charges in a single chemical compound, allowing them to bind tightly to a layer of water at the device surface. This water layer acts as an invisible shield that prevents bacteria, proteins, and other biological material from sticking to the surface. Because the coating works by physical principles rather than by killing bacteria, it does not rely on antibiotics or antimicrobial agents, which means it does not contribute to antibiotic resistance.

The team transitioned this chemistry from the laboratory into ClearTract庐, an FDA-cleared zwitterion-coated urinary Foley catheter, developed through a collaboration between the Kaner Group at UCLA and SILQ Technologies. ClearTract庐 represents one of the first real-world applications of zwitterionic surface technology in one of the most commonly used medical devices, which has traditionally been associated with one of the highest infection rates.

The same coating principles can be extended to other indwelling medical devices such as vascular stents, urinary drainage systems, contact lenses, cochlear implants, and orthopaedic and dental implants, where biofilm-related infections remain a major unsolved challenge. By reducing infection rates without relying on antibiotics, this technology has the potential to improve patient outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and help address one of the most pressing public health threats.

There鈥檚 no drug, no killing, and no resistance pathway. It鈥檚 a solution to what has historically been treated as a pharmacological problem, and that opens up a different way of thinking about medical device design.

Richard Kaner

Q&A

What are your feelings on receiving this prize? 

Richard Kaner: It鈥檚 genuinely humbling. Our team hoped that the work we were contributing to might one day improve the quality of life for patients and our community. Seeing zwitterionic chemistry go from a bench-scale experiment to an FDA-cleared device that actually reaches patients, and is now being recognised by the Royal Society of 深夜福利国产精品, is more than we could have hoped for. Our team, both at UCLA and SILQ, is incredibly grateful for the honour. The prize really belongs to a group of incredible team members who each pushed the technology forward.

What were the biggest challenges in this project, and how did you overcome them? 

Richard Kaner: One of the biggest challenges was overcoming scepticism around the idea that a surface treatment could match, or even outperform, traditional pharmaceuticals. Many clinicians and epidemiologists are understandably cautious and, at times, entrenched in established treatment paradigms.

We addressed this by taking a rigorous, evidence-driven approach, building a continuum of validation from benchtop studies to animal models and ultimately to clinical data. As the evidence became increasingly tangible and patient outcomes spoke for themselves, that scepticism shifted. Many of the same clinicians who were initially doubtful are now strong advocates for the technology, having seen its impact first-hand in their own patients.

Why is this work so important and exciting? 

Richard Kaner: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are one of the most common hospital-acquired infections in the world, and the standard response is antibiotics, which are becoming less and less effective as resistance grows. What鈥檚 exciting about zwitterionic coatings is that they address infection through a completely different mechanism, by preventing bacteria from attaching in the first place. There鈥檚 no drug, no killing, and no resistance pathway. It鈥檚 a solution to what has historically been treated as a pharmacological problem, and that opens up a different way of thinking about medical device design.

Where do you see the biggest impact of this technology/research being? 

Brian McVerry: Today, complications associated with medical devices are managed reactively or prophylactically with drugs, approaches that carry significant trade-offs. Overuse of antibiotics is driving antimicrobial resistance, producing pathogens that increasingly evade even our most potent therapies. Anticoagulants used to prevent thrombosis require careful monitoring to mitigate bleeding risk. Meanwhile, immunosuppressants employed to address the foreign-body response can leave patients vulnerable to additional complications.

We have demonstrated, for the first time, a scalable method to apply this novel surface chemistry across entire devices, achieving a clinically meaningful reduction in infection without relying on antibiotics. Our zwitterion-treated catheter is the first to validate this approach in practice. We believe this represents a paradigm shift, and that device-level protection using this technology will become the new standard for implanted medical devices.

How will this work be used in real life applications? 

Richard Kaner: ClearTract庐, the zwitterion-coated Foley catheter, is already FDA-cleared and entering clinical use, which means patients will benefit from it directly. However, the same coating chemistry is broadly applicable. We鈥檙e actively expanding it to other devices where biofilm and biofouling are unsolved problems, including vascular stents, urinary drainage systems, contact lenses, cochlear implants, and orthopaedic and dental implants. Each of these device categories has its own challenges, but the core principle of applying a zwitterionic layer that resists biological adhesion can be translated across all of them.

How important would you say collaboration is for producing high-quality science? How has collaboration influenced this work? 

Richard Kaner: This project is a case study in why academic and industry collaborations matter. The fundamental chemistry came from years of material chemistry research in our group, but turning that chemistry into something a hospital can actually use required engineering, regulatory, manufacturing, and clinical expertise that SILQ Technologies, Inc. possesses. Neither side could have done it alone.