(753e) Immuno-engineered Biomaterials Reduce Implant-related Infections

The invention and use of antibiotics are given credit for the significant reduction of infections and saving millions of lives. However, the wide use of antibiotics has also created the latest grave challenge in patient care, i.e., antibiotic resistant bacteria, which have been increasing in recent decades. Besides antibiotic resistance, infection treatments face other challenges including biofilm formation, intra-cellular infection, delayed wound healing, etc. The recent COVID-19 have further reminded us of the challenges in dealing with infections. In this paper, engineering of biomaterials with cytokines to tune the immune responses against implant-related infections will be presented, and a few nanotechnology approaches will be briefly discussed.