James D. Bryers, Professor

Adjunct with Chemical Engineering

Thrust Areas
Engineered Biomaterials and Tissue Bioengineering
Molecular Bioengineering and Nanotechnology

Education
PhD (chemical engineering), Rice University, 1980

Research Interests
    •  Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation
    •  Biomaterials that Heal while Preventing Bacterial Infection
    •  Macromolecular Mass Transfer Mechanisms in Cells and Bacterial Biofilms
    •  Plasmid Retention, Expression, and Transfer within Biofilm Communities
    •  Gene Delivery

Contact Information
Department of Bioengineering
University of Washington
Box 355061
William H. Foege Building, Room N310C
Phone: 206-221-5876
E-mail: jbryers@u.washington.edu

Research Description

Worldwide production of biomedical devices and tissue engineering-related materials is a $170 billion per year industry and expanding rapidly. However, 80% of hospital-acquired infections are associated with implants or indwelling medical devices; with the case-to-fatality ratio of these infections ranging between 5-60%. ‘Bioinspired’ materials incorporate spatially defined physical (e.g., microscale surface topographies) or chemical cues (e.g., spatial patterns of extracellular matrix or adhesion signals) to guide the local organization and physiology of incoming mammalian cells. Unfortunately, signals designed to seduce mammalian cells may also enhance bacterial colonization and infections.

Biofilms are dense microcolonies of microbial cells entrapped within a polysaccharide matrix attached to a surface. The ‘biofilm concept’ fundamentally contradicts the assumption that infectious cells are evenly distributed and therefore equally vulnerable to immune responses or antibiotic therapies. The biofilm mode of growth accounts for several problematic clinical challenges, such as: symptomatic, but unculturable species; chronic inflammation; rapidly acquired antibiotic resistance; recurrence or persistence of infections; and metastasis or the spread of infectious emboli.

If biofilm research does not draw upon engineering mathematics, molecular microbiology, genomics and proteomics, transport phenomena, and interfacial chemistry then it is incomplete. Our systems-approach to biofilm research comprises such topics as: receptor:ligand specific adhesion, genomics/proteomics of biofilm formation, three-dimensional mass transport phenomena in thick biofilms, gene therapy approaches to anti-sense RNA control of biofilm polysaccharide secretion -- all within a quantitative engineering framework.

Teaching Activities

• BIOEN 357: Introduction to Molecular Bioengineering
• BIOEN 491: Controlled Release Systems

Honors and Awards

Selected Publications

• Bryers, J. D., (Editor) Biofilms, Second Edition, J. Wiley Interscience, New York, NY (2000).
• Sun, D., Accavitti-Loper, M. A., and Bryers, J. D. Characterization of adhesion accumulation protein (AAP) of adherent Staphylococcus epidermidis, Infection and Immunity, accepted (March, 2004).
• Sun, D., Accavitti-Loper, M. A., and Bryers, J. D. Inhibition of Staphylococcus epidermidis adhesion and biofilm formation by monoclonal antibody intervention of adhesion accumulation protein (AAP), Infection and Immunity, accepted (March, 2004).
• Johnston, E. E., Bryers, J. D., and Ratner, B. D. Efficacy of Plasma Deposited Oligoglyme, Dioxane, and Crown Ether Non-Thin Films to Prevent Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation, Biotechnology & Bioengineering, in preparation (March, 2004).
• Johnston, E. E., Bryers, J. D., and Ratner, B. D. Plasma Deposition and Surface Characterization of Oligoglyme, Dioxane, and Crown Ether Non-Fouling Thin Films, Langmuir, submitted (March,2004).
• Wagner, V. and Bryers, J. D. Bacterial:Macrophage Interactions on Peptide- and Antibody-decorated Linear- and Star-like PEG surfaces of PEG-Poly(Acrylic acid) Co-polymers, J. Biomedical Materials Research, accepted August, 2003.
• Wagner, V., Koberstein, J., and Bryers, J. D. Linear- and Star-like PEG Surface Modifications of PEG-Poly(Acrylic acid) Co-polymers: Synthesis, Characterization, and Non-fouling aspects, Biomaterials,25: 2247-2263, 2004.
• Klueh, U., Bryers, J. D., and Kreutzer, D. L., Binding and Orientation of Fibronectin on Polystyrene Surfaces Using Immobilized Bacterial Adhesion-related Peptides, J. Biomedical Materials Research, 67A: 36-43, 2003.
• Klueh, U., Seery, T., Castner, D. G., Bryers, J. D., and Kreutzer, D. L. Binding and orientation of fibronectin to silanated glass surfaces using immobilized bacterial adhesin-related peptides, Biomaterials, 24: 3877-3884, 2003.
• Wagner, V. and Bryers, J. D. Monocyte/macrophage interactions with base and linear and star-like PEG-modified PEG-poly(acrylic acid) co-polymers, J. Biomedical Materials Research, 66A: 62–78, 2003.
• Klueh, U., Goralnick, S., Bryers, J. D., and Kreutzer, D. L. Binding and Orientation of Fibronectin on Surfaces using Collagen Related Peptides, Student Research Award in the Master of Science Degree Candidate Category, 27th Annual Meeting of the Society of Biomaterials, J. Biomedical Materials Research, 56(3): 307-323, 2001.
• Klueh, U., Wagner, V., Kelly, S., Johnson, A., and Bryers, J. D. Efficacy of Silver-coated Fabric to Prevent Bacterial Colonization and Subsequent Device-based Infection, J. Biomedical Materials Research (Applied Biomaterials), 53: 621-631, 2000.
• Hendricks, S. K., Kwok, C. S., Shen, M., Horbett, T. A., B. D. Ratner, and Bryers, J. D. Plasma-deposited Membranes for Controlled Release of Antibiotic to Prevent Bacterial Adhesion and Biofilm Formation, J. Biomedical Materials Research, 50: 160-170, 2000.
• Kwok, C. S., Wan, C., Hendricks, S. K., Bryers, J. D., Horbett, T. A., and Ratner, B. D. Design of Infection-resistant Antibiotic-releasing Polymers: I. Fabrication and Formulation. J. Controlled Release, Dec. 6; 62 (3): 289-299. 1999.
• Bryers, J. D. and Drummond, F. Local Mass Transfer Coefficients in Bacterial Biofilm Using Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP), Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 60: 462-473, 1998.