Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Biofilms on Contact Lenses: A Vision for Making Bacteria Uncomfortable

Monday, May 2, 2016, By News Staff
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Just like we care about the comfort of what we choose to wear and where we choose to live, so do bacteria. Unlike with our friends and family, researchers would like to find ways to make bacteria less welcome on surfaces.

This is the objective of Associate Professor Dacheng Ren in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, who recently was awarded a R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how bacteria grow on the surface of polymers with different levels of stiffness—particularly as it relates to bacterial growth on contact lenses.

sfdgsdfgsdfgsdfg

Associate Professor Dacheng Ren is researching ways of making bacteria uncomfortable on contact lenses.

“By using a common polymer material, that is used in many medical devices, it turns out that bacteria care a lot about stiffness,” says Ren. “When you change the stiffness, within the range of normal contact lenses, we see a big difference in terms of how much bacteria can attach. It also affects the physiology of attached cells, in terms of how fast they grow and their sensitivity to antibiotics. Even the size of the cells tends to be different based on the stiffness.”

Through collaboration with Professor Jay Henderson, the team will be using cell-tracking software to look at how cells move on surfaces of varying stiffness and will measure quantitative and statistically significant differences based on the different materials.

Bacteria, like humans, have environmental preferences. “It is not surprising that they prefer the soft surfaces used in our study because it is easier for them to attach. They seem to be happier too as the cells become longer and grow faster.”

Right now, a lot of people who wear contact lenses don’t think about bacterial growth and they do not often clean and change them in time. Some of these actions can cause chronic, permanent damage due to biofilm-associated eye infections. Ren is working in his lab to see if the contact lenses themselves could one day become a line of defense against eye infections.

This NIH R21 grant is funded by the National Eye Institute and entitled for $408,183 for two years. It will help understand the effects of material stiffness on bacterial biofilm formation and develop better contact lenses.

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • Graduate Students Bring Physics to Local Classrooms With Outreach Program
    Friday, May 27, 2022, By Dan Bernardi
  • COVID-19 Update: Effective Wednesday, June 1, Masking Level Returns to Yellow
    Friday, May 27, 2022, By News Staff
  • Preparing Students for a Life of Success
    Friday, May 27, 2022, By Caroline K. Reff
  • Alumni Draw on Their Military Experience in Their Roles as Teachers
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By Martin Walls
  • Bringing ‘CSI’ Into the Classroom
    Thursday, May 26, 2022, By Dan Bernardi

More In STEM

Graduate Students Bring Physics to Local Classrooms With Outreach Program

“When am I ever going to use this in real life?” That is the oft-heard refrain from middle- and high-school science students, struggling through labs and formulas that feel as far removed from their day-to-day as, well, space travel. Sarthak…

Bringing ‘CSI’ Into the Classroom

Dusting for fingerprints, documenting blood stain patterns and measuring bullet trajectory—you might think this is a description of a recent episode from the popular television series “CSI.” While this may be true, these are also the daily lessons students are…

Matt Cufari Named as a 2022-23 Astronaut Scholar

Matt Cufari, a senior physics major in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), a computer science major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, a Coronat Scholar and a member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program, has…

Dean Rajiv ‘Raj’ Dewan to Step Down as Dean of the School of Information Studies

Rajiv “Raj” Dewan, dean of the School of Information Studies, has announced he will conclude his deanship on June 30, 2022. Dewan plans to return to full-time faculty duties while continuing his research. David Seaman, dean of Syracuse University Libraries…

Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences Departments Come Together on Diversity and Engagement Initiatives

In 1948, Professor James Hope Birnie became Syracuse University’s first African American faculty member in biology, teaching here until 1951. He was also one of its first biology faculty members to be supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)….

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2022 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.