All Things Considered: April 2011
Sharks may have been getting a bad rap. They are seen, by most people,
as deadly killers. Indeed they are top predators. But they may also be
lifesavers. Among their attributes – big teeth, steely eyes and a bad
attitude – they have one that is truly unique and from which we may
benefit.
Sharks may have been getting a bad rap. They are seen, by most people, as deadly killers. Indeed they are top predators. But they may also be lifesavers. Among their attributes – big teeth, steely eyes and a bad attitude – they have one that is truly unique and from which we may benefit. Their sleek, micro-contoured scales inhibit and block the development of bacteria.
What is so neat about this is that it doesn’t rely on secretions or antibiotic chemistry. It is simply the shape and configuration of the scales.
A Florida company – Sharklet Technologies Inc. – has developed and is bringing to market technologies that manage micro-organism growth by mimicking what sharks have developed over millions of years.
The company has produced a product called Sharklet™ that is “the first no-kill, non-toxic and environmentally friendly surface designed to inhibit bacterial growth, including MRSA, E. coli, Staph aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, VRE and a host of other bacteria.”
Advances in micro-technology allowed the company to identify, develop and produce a surface made of millions of microscopic humps and bumps that are arranged in a distinctive shape. It is this diamond shape that bacteria find inhospitable for growth.
In simple terms, it seems bacteria like flat surfaces – even very tiny flat surfaces – where they can occupy and multiply. Bacteria can divide every 20 minutes.
Until recently the way to fight the bacteria, once someone had become ill, was straightforward – drugs. Antibiotics were comparatively cheap and effective.
But the bacteria adapted. A dozen or so of the eight million were resistant to the drug and they multiplied. New or different drugs faced the same response. The bacteria could be knocked down but were never knocked out. As the use of the drugs spread, so did the emergence of resistant bacteria.
Without getting into the whole contentious debate over the use of antibiotics in agriculture or the overuse of antibiotics by physicians, it is clear that resistant bacteria are emerging and proliferating. Scientists who study these bacteria say that bacteria could soon emerge that are resistant to all available drugs. Needless to say, that would not be a good thing. It would be especially bad, they say, for pregnant women and young children.
If the drugs are failing, we seem to have two choices, drop back to the 19th century, when bacteria plagued humanity, or find a different way to fight back. Using physical properties seems inspired. Just as humans have basic physical requirements (we would, for example, be unable to last a second on Jupiter) so do bacteria. They need to multiply and they need space to do it. The skin or scales of a shark deny them this space.
Sharklet Technologies says it has come up with “a simple solution for a complex problem.” The Sharkle™ SafeTouch, for example, is an adhesive-backed film that may be applied to any germ-prone surface. These films or skins can be used in hospitals and other bacteria-prone places to inhibit the survival, transfer and migration of bacteria.
Interestingly, the pattern may also be manufactured directly into the surfaces of products such as medical devices.
The product was tested in a California hospital and it was found it prevented micro-organisms, such as E. coli and Staphylococcus A, from establishing colonies large enough to infect humans. That’s good news for hospitals and humans.
But the applications could range far beyond hospitals to other public places. Schools are another hot spot, as are public washrooms.
While the technology is small scale today, it is technology that can be ramped up. As more uses are found, the production scale can be increased and the production costs reduced.
It is not beyond the realm of imagination that surfaces of machinery used in food processing could be patterned after a shark’s skin. The same pattern could be used in food wraps and on grocery counters. Even home appliances, storage containers, counters and cutting boards could take on the pattern. The possibilities and potential seem endless.
Cost might seem to be a constraint. But stores are currently jammed with a wide variety of antibacterial cleaning products that claim to kill 99.9 per cent of germs.
These are good products. But the 0.1 per cent of germs that survive are resistant and they will spread. The way to get at them is to change products and formulations in the hope that the different product will knock down what had been 0.1 per cent, but may have become 100 per cent.
Add to the cost of cleaning the cost of drugs and other medical bills and you are getting into some pretty big numbers. In the long run, setting up effective physical barriers and periodically flushing them with soap and water would likely be less expensive.
It’s a strategy that’s worked for sharks for hundreds of millions of years: maybe we can learn from them.
What is so neat about this is that it doesn’t rely on secretions or antibiotic chemistry. It is simply the shape and configuration of the scales.
A Florida company – Sharklet Technologies Inc. – has developed and is bringing to market technologies that manage micro-organism growth by mimicking what sharks have developed over millions of years.
The company has produced a product called Sharklet™ that is “the first no-kill, non-toxic and environmentally friendly surface designed to inhibit bacterial growth, including MRSA, E. coli, Staph aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, VRE and a host of other bacteria.”
Advances in micro-technology allowed the company to identify, develop and produce a surface made of millions of microscopic humps and bumps that are arranged in a distinctive shape. It is this diamond shape that bacteria find inhospitable for growth.
In simple terms, it seems bacteria like flat surfaces – even very tiny flat surfaces – where they can occupy and multiply. Bacteria can divide every 20 minutes.
Until recently the way to fight the bacteria, once someone had become ill, was straightforward – drugs. Antibiotics were comparatively cheap and effective.
But the bacteria adapted. A dozen or so of the eight million were resistant to the drug and they multiplied. New or different drugs faced the same response. The bacteria could be knocked down but were never knocked out. As the use of the drugs spread, so did the emergence of resistant bacteria.
Without getting into the whole contentious debate over the use of antibiotics in agriculture or the overuse of antibiotics by physicians, it is clear that resistant bacteria are emerging and proliferating. Scientists who study these bacteria say that bacteria could soon emerge that are resistant to all available drugs. Needless to say, that would not be a good thing. It would be especially bad, they say, for pregnant women and young children.
If the drugs are failing, we seem to have two choices, drop back to the 19th century, when bacteria plagued humanity, or find a different way to fight back. Using physical properties seems inspired. Just as humans have basic physical requirements (we would, for example, be unable to last a second on Jupiter) so do bacteria. They need to multiply and they need space to do it. The skin or scales of a shark deny them this space.
Sharklet Technologies says it has come up with “a simple solution for a complex problem.” The Sharkle™ SafeTouch, for example, is an adhesive-backed film that may be applied to any germ-prone surface. These films or skins can be used in hospitals and other bacteria-prone places to inhibit the survival, transfer and migration of bacteria.
Interestingly, the pattern may also be manufactured directly into the surfaces of products such as medical devices.
The product was tested in a California hospital and it was found it prevented micro-organisms, such as E. coli and Staphylococcus A, from establishing colonies large enough to infect humans. That’s good news for hospitals and humans.
But the applications could range far beyond hospitals to other public places. Schools are another hot spot, as are public washrooms.
While the technology is small scale today, it is technology that can be ramped up. As more uses are found, the production scale can be increased and the production costs reduced.
It is not beyond the realm of imagination that surfaces of machinery used in food processing could be patterned after a shark’s skin. The same pattern could be used in food wraps and on grocery counters. Even home appliances, storage containers, counters and cutting boards could take on the pattern. The possibilities and potential seem endless.
Cost might seem to be a constraint. But stores are currently jammed with a wide variety of antibacterial cleaning products that claim to kill 99.9 per cent of germs.
These are good products. But the 0.1 per cent of germs that survive are resistant and they will spread. The way to get at them is to change products and formulations in the hope that the different product will knock down what had been 0.1 per cent, but may have become 100 per cent.
Add to the cost of cleaning the cost of drugs and other medical bills and you are getting into some pretty big numbers. In the long run, setting up effective physical barriers and periodically flushing them with soap and water would likely be less expensive.
It’s a strategy that’s worked for sharks for hundreds of millions of years: maybe we can learn from them.