A University of Wisconsin research team recently developed new molecules with the ability to thwart persistent bacterial infections and better control the accumulation of specific microorganisms called biofilms.

Biofilm, a goo-like amalgamation common in nature that scientists study for its rare ability to form into large groups, appears to the layperson as plaque on teeth or the slime on a ship’s hull.

Biofilms also coat plant roots and symbiotically aid ecological processes, but they can also have serious health implications to humans, according to UW chemistry professor and lead researcher Helen Blackwell.

“Biofilms are this slime that protects the bacteria from the outside environment,” Blackwell said. “Which is really good for the bacteria, but not so good for the humans trying to treat it.”

A U.S. National Institutes of Health study published in 2003 reported almost 80 percent of bacterial infections appear in the biofilm form.

The slime is at the root of a growing number of hospital infections that can eventually prove fatal, Blackwell added.

“When an infection is biofilm-based, it is really hard to treat with any known antibiotic,” Blackwell said. “And so we must find other ways of treating it.”

Blackwell and her team are currently screening hundreds of molecules at a time and have so far unveiled three promising organic compounds to not only limit the accumulation of biofilm but stop it, too.

“The research is going really well; we have already found three compounds potent in inhibiting. One actually can stop the biofilm formation. Now that we have them, we need to understand how they work,” Blackwell said.

The team hopes to find a new way of treating infections with what scientists have known about bacteria for more than 25 years.

Grant Geske, a graduate student and an assistant to Blackwell’s research, pointed out the positive effects this discovery could have for people with bacterial infections.

“We can really improve the overall quality of people’s health,” Geske said.

Geske added the research could bring down costs of fighting bacterial infections if biofilm accumulations can be slowed or inhibited.

Bacteria speak with one another through simple organic structures and when they talk, human infections are initiated, according to Blackwell.

Not only can bacteria communicate, but they also have the ability known as “quorum sensing,” Blackwell added. The bacteria can sense each other and an overall density of their colony by continuously exchanging small molecules and peptides.

But when the colony reaches a density threshold, the bacteria unit can cause a biofilm formation.

If a molecule could be used to limit communication between bacteria, then bacterial infections caused through biofilm accumulation could be reduced.

“Not only that, but it has also been calculated that over $1 billion have already been spent trying to fight these biofilms,” Geske said. “Our research and our discovery could make everything less expensive and more efficient. That would save the hospital and everyone else a lot of money.”