Targeting Biofilm-Associated Infections: Mechanistic Insights, Challenges, and Therapeutic Innovations

Dear Colleagues,

Bacterial infections, especially those involving biofilm formation, continue to pose an arduous clinical challenge, contributing to chronic infections, device failure, and an escalating burden on healthcare systems. Biofilms, which are complex microbial communities encased in an extracellular matrix, play a crucial role in bacterial persistence, resistance to antibiotics, and immune evasion, thereby complicating treatment across a wide range of biomedical applications. Recent advances in understanding bacterial adhesion, biofilm maturation, and resistance mechanisms have greatly enhanced our comprehension of infection dynamics, paving the way for novel therapeutic strategies.

This Special Issue will include the latest insights into the fundamental mechanisms of bacterial infections, with a particular focus on biofilm formation and its role in chronic infections. We will highlight cutting-edge antibacterial strategies, including the development of novel materials and therapeutic approaches aimed at combating bacterial infections, boosting immune responses, and overcoming biofilm-associated resistance in both clinical and device-related contexts. Additionally, we will exploit emerging alternative strategies, such as antimicrobial peptides, nanomaterials, magnetic therapy, bacteriophage-based treatments, piezoelectric antibacterial techniques, and probiotic-based solutions, along with their synergistic potential in infection control.

Beyond traditional infection sites, such as bone, skin, and the urinary tract, this Special Issue will also address emerging infection challenges in specialized biomedical contexts, including ocular infections (e.g., keratitis), periodontal disease, blood infections, pneumonia, Helicobacter pylori infections, and vaginal infections. These conditions, particularly those associated with implanted devices, present unique obstacles in developing effective antibacterial therapies, as biofilms in these settings are notoriously difficult to eradicate.

Key topics for this Special Issue include the following:

1. Biofilm formation mechanisms: understanding bacterial adhesion, biofilm development, and the molecular mechanisms behind antimicrobial resistance in biofilms, with multidisciplinary perspectives from materials science, surface physics, and molecular biology, etc.
2. Immune modulation for infection control: investigating how immune modulation can enhance the body’s natural defense mechanisms, including the use of immune boosters, cytokine therapy, and immune checkpoint inhibitors to promote infection resolution.
3. Biofilm disruption and antibacterial strategies: advances in strategies to disrupt biofilms, including enzymatic, photothermal, photocatalytic, and sonodynamic approaches.
4. Material innovations for antibacterial applications: development of novel antibacterial materials, including nanomaterials, functionalized surfaces and coatings, drug-delivering biomaterials, and smart responsive biomaterials, and so on.
5. Targeted antibacterial therapies for specific infections: exploring strategies for treating infections in different tissues and organs such as the cornea (keratitis), periodontal tissues, bone (osteomyelitis), and the gastrointestinal tract (Helicobacter pylori).
6. Antibiotic resistance and multi-drug resistant pathogens: highlighting the latest advances in understanding the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and the challenges posed by multi-drug-resistant pathogens while exploring strategies to combat infections caused by multi-drug-resistant bacteria, including novel antibiotics and non-antibiotic therapies.
7. Regenerative medicine and infection control: exploring how infection control and antibacterial materials can be integrated with tissue engineering for improved wound care, bone regeneration, and other infection-related tissue restoration challenges.
8. Antimicrobial surfaces for infection prevention: development of antimicrobial and anti-biofilm/biofilm-disrupting surfaces for healthcare settings and medical devices.
9. Infection prevention in various biomedical sectors: examining the role of antibacterial materials in preventing infections in diverse medical contexts, from ocular to systemic infections.
10. Clinical implications of antibacterial materials and strategies: regulatory, safety, and clinical considerations for the application of novel antibacterial materials/strategies in human health.

Overall, this Special Issue seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the cutting-edge research on bacterial infections and antibacterial strategies, offering insights into both the fundamental understanding of biofilm formation and the latest therapeutic approaches aimed at mitigating infection risks across different medical scenarios. We invite original research articles, reviews, and short communications that contribute to these exciting developments.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Zhaojun Jia
Dr. Jianglong Yan
Guest Editors

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• biofilm formation
• antimicrobial resistance
• biofilm disruption
• bacterial infections
• biomedical device-associated infections (BAIs)
• immunomodulatory biomaterials
• antibacterial materials
• antibacterial surface modification
• photocatalytic disinfection
• sonodynamic antibacterial therapy