Researchers from the West Pomeranian University of Technology and the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin and the German Institut für Pharmazie, Universität Greifswald have joined forces in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The Polish and German researchers decided to use natural extracts from plants such as sundew and the southern African native Elephantorrhiza elephantina, whose strong inhibitory activity against the formation of bacterial biofilms had previously been found by German scientists.
Selected strains of bacteria are juxtaposed with a biopolymer coated with material obtained, for example, from sundew extract. The biopolymer is usually a form of cellulose, or alginate, which can be extracted from seaweed. As a result, even the most virulent bacteria on catheters or dressing materials have a much smaller chance of growing.
The team is already trying to apply for international funding – including through the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance.
