Team:Oxford/Test/Design

Design

Introduction

Designing a novel method of getting our bacteria into the urinary tract was a big consideration during the beginning stages of our project. The approach of delivering our bacteria directly through the catheter into the bladder would probably be the most effective. However we found that the biofilm also forms on the outside of the catheter so in our design we attempted to tackle the biofilm from outside and in.

While our bacteria could potentially be used to a large range of different pipes to tackle a growing world problem with biofilms we decide to focus on a medical application for them. We focused on the problem of urinary tract infections as a member of our team, George Driscoll, had seen first hand the extreme impact it can have on people’s, especially women’s lives.

“Biofilms are shit and a big problem in the world”

Ria Dinsdale
Catheter Fanatic

Our catheter would have a three-pronged attack on the biofilm. First the biofilm forming in the lining of the bladder, then the biofilm beginning to form on the outside of the catheter itself, and finally attacking the biofilm trying to form on the inside walls of the catheter.

Our initial research into the current designs of catheter began online, where we started to get a better understanding of the size that we were working with. We looked into the problems with insertion, removal and general life with having a catheter in place. Through out the design process we attempted to keep these constantly in our mind in order to create something that would not only help with infection but was practical for the patient, doctor and manufacturer.

To get some more first hand experience of how small a catheter is we purchased a catheter. This made us realise how small our containment method would have to be. As UTIs mainly affect women we decided to buy a 14F female Foley catheter. This gave us a much better idea of the size we were working with i.e. very small. Knowing this leads us to adjust the chemical that we were hoping to use to make the beads that will contain our bacteria.