Simulating anti-adhesive and antibacterial bifunctional polymers for surface coating using BioScape

Vishakha Sharma, Adriana Compagnoni, Matthew Libera, Agnieszka K. Muszanska, Henk J. Busscher, Henny C. Van Der Mei

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Traditionally biomaterials development consists of designing a surface and testing its properties experimentally. This trial-and-error approach is limited because of the resources and time needed to sample a representative number of configurations in a combinatorially complex scenario. There- fore, computational modeling is of significant importance in identifying best antibacterial materials to prevent and treat implant related biofilm infections. In this paper we focus on bifunctional surface with polymer brushes and Pluronic-Lysozyme conjugates developed by Henk Busscher's group in Groningen, The Netherlands. The bifunctional brushes act as anti-adhesive due to the un- modified polymer brushes and antibacterial, because of the Pluronic-Lysozyme conjugates. They developed and studied three different surfaces with varying proportions of antibacterial and anti-adhesive properties. In order to aid the development of optimal bifunctional surfaces, we build a three dimensional computational model using BioScape, an agent- based modeling and simulation language developed by Compagnoni's group at Stevens. We model two different experimental phases: Adhesion and growth. We use the results of experiments on two surfaces as training data, and we validate our model by reproducing the experimental results from the third surface. The resulting model is able to simulate varying configurations of surface coatings both at adhesion and growth phases at a fraction of the time necessary to perform in-vitro experiments. The output of the model not only plots populations over time, but it also produces 3D-rendered videos of bacteria- surface interactions enhancing the visualization of the system's behavior.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2013 ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Biomedical Informatics, ACM-BCB 2013
Pages613-622
Number of pages10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
Event2013 4th ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Biomedical Informatics, ACM-BCB 2013 - Wshington, DC, United States
Duration: 22 Sep 201325 Sep 2013

Publication series

Name2013 ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Biomedical Informatics, ACM-BCB 2013

Conference

Conference2013 4th ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Biomedical Informatics, ACM-BCB 2013
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWshington, DC
Period22/09/1325/09/13

Keywords

  • Agent based modeling
  • Bacteria- materials interactions
  • Computational biology

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