Event Abstract Back to Event Acrylic polymers bearing superwetting silicone surfactants are candidates for bacterial adhesion-resistant biomaterials Madiha Khan1 and Michael A. Brook1, 2 1 McMaster University, Biomedical Engineering, Canada 2 McMaster University, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Canada The increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria has necessitated the development of novel antibacterial surfaces[1], particularly in the context of silicone-based implants because the hydrophobicity of silicones has been linked to undesirable microbial adhesion[2]. Unfortunately, current mitigative strategies, such as pretreatment of surfaces with antiseptics/antibiotics do not always work, and can facilitate the prevalence of resistant pathogens by exposing bacteria to sublethal concentrations of biocides[3]. Therefore, scientific interest has shifted to preventing the initial bacterial adhesion that can lead to surface colonization via surface modification by surfactants[4]. The copolymerization of ACR-008UP (an acrylic-terminated superwetting silicone surfactant) in increasing weight percentages with butyl methacrylate (BMA) and/or methyl methacrylate (MMA) was performed. Interestingly, copolymers of 20wt% ACR showed at least 3x less adhesion by Escherichia coli than any other formulation. This is not a consequence of wettability, which followed a parabolic function with surfactant concentration, showing high sessile water droplet contact angles at both low (< 20 wt%) and high (>80 wt%) concentrations of the superwetter in the formulations. The contact angle at 20 wt% surfactant was 66°. We ascribe the lack of bacterial adhesion both to interactions between surfactant and the bacterial cell wall and to surfactant influenced water retention at the interface, and will discuss this proposal in light of ongoing studies of additional surfaces bearing superwetting groups. 20/20: NSERC Opthalmic Materials Network