Dana Stamo

University of Colorado, USA

Title: Light-Activated Quantum Dot Potentiation of Antibiotics to Treat Drug-Resistant Biofilms

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Biography

Dana F. Stamo is a second-year Biological Engineering PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder where she does research on novel therapeutics for hard-to-treat infectious diseases. In 2019, Dana graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical & Biological Engineering. An artist in her free time, Dana often blurs the line between art and science, using creativity and design principles in her approach to engineering. When she isn’t doing art or science, you’ll find Dana hiking the Colorado Rockies, skating, or reading.

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health and demands alternative therapies for multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections. Light-activated quantum dots (QDs) are a versatile candidate for treating MDR bacteria without harming mammalian cells. Furthermore, their ease of diffusion and ability to photo-potentiate allows for precise, localized treatment and their dynamic tunability keeps them in pace with bacterial evolution. While QDs are shown to be a viable alternative therapy for planktonic cultures, they have not been applied in treating bacterial biofilms (a common growth form that affords bacterial strains more resistance and persistence to immune and traditional drug attack). Additionally, the mechanism of QD attack—production of reactive oxygen species—and sub-breakpoint antibiotic treatments have been shown to stimulate biofilm formation, especially in clinical isolates. Herein, we demonstrate the previously observed mono-therapeutic stimulation of biofilm formation and apply QD-antibiotic combination therapies to overcome and nearly eradicate 48-hour, early-stage, static biofilms of Escherichia coli K12, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These results lay the groundwork for QD-antibiotic combination treatments for late-stage clinical and industrial biofilms, contributing to the development of QD nanotherapeutics for combating MDR superbugs.