Young Wook Kim receives best poster presentation award

The poster, “An enhanced bacterial biofilm treatment using superpositioned electric field,” won in a field of 35 posters. The research addresses the problem of bacteria in biofilms, which cause severe infections requiring substantial antibiotic doses (>500 times) compared to bacteria in suspensions. Kim and his colleagues are developing a new bacterial biofilm treatment method utilized with low concentration of antibiotics. Combinatorial treatment with electric fields and antibiotics reduces biofilms in a phenomenon known as the bioelectric effect. The research team utilized for the first time superpositioned alternating and direct current (AC and DC) fields for effective biofilms treatment with antibiotics. The total biomass reduction by the superpositioned field treatment was 71 percent more than the reduction by only AC or DC treatments. Since the electric field intensity was significantly lower than that required for electrolysis of biological media, this method can be directly applied to future in vivo infection treatment.

In addition to Kim, researchers include Hadar Ben-Yoav, Hsuan-Chen, David Quan, Karen Carter, Mariana T. Meyer, William E. Bentley and Reza Ghodssi.

Kim reports there was great interest in the work among many NIH/FDA researchers and Korean industry representatives.

Kim is a Robert W. Deutsch Graduate Student Fellow and member of the BioMEMS group working in the MEMS Sensors and Actuators Laboratory. His thesis work is focused on developing an integrated microsystem for in vivo biofilm detection and treatment. He has research interests in clinical diagnostic tool development, bacterial biofilms, wireless implantable microsystem, biosensors and biofilm treatments. Kim is advised by ISR Director Reza Ghodssi.

| View the poster |

Published December 10, 2013