XWH - 11 - 2 - 0163 TITLE : Absorbable Antimicrobial Battlefield Hemostat PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

for the Pittcon 2013, Conference Presentation Surface modification of hemostatic silicon nanofibers to provide anti-microbial functionality Fei Tian, Xu Wu, Kali Shephard, Aaron Hanson, Min Wu†, R. Hugh Daniels‡, Julia Xiaojun Zhao*Department of Chemistry,†Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of North Dakota,ND 58202, and‡Nanosys Inc, CA) The use of functional nanomaterials in biology is one of the fastest developing areas in nanoscience andnanobiotechnology. Silicon nanofibers (SiNFs) have been explored to be a novel material for enhancing thehemostasic capability of wound dressings due to their unique advantages such as huge surface-to-volume ratio,high flexibility and good biocompatibility. Using SiNFs as a substrate, we have produced a novel antibacterialsilicon nanofiber with strong antibacterial property while retaining its hemostatic activity. Gentamicin waschosen as the model anti-bacterial agent that could be coupled to the nanostructures to create the hybridnanostructure. The gentamicin was grafted on the nanofiber surface by surface modification. Differentmodification methods were evaluated to achieve better conjugation. The hybrid nanostructure was evaluated bySEM, FT-IR and EDS. The results showed that silicon nanofibers have high flexibility and good dispersion inaqua solution. The antibacterial property of SiNFs was evaluated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a modelmicroorganism and the gentamicin hybrid nanostructure showed good antimicrobial properties. The hybridnanostructure was then evaluated for its hemostatic activity and shown to provide equivalent hemostasis tounmodified SiNF.