perimeter of the main drainage lume

perimeter of the main drainage lumen, as well as along the fulllength of the device. We hypothesized that prototypes woulddebond a mixed community biofilm of Escherichia coli andP. mirabilis, two of the most common bacteria found in CAUTIs, andwe developed an artificial bladder flow system to grow maturebiofilms inside the main drainage lumen of prototype catheters.Upon on-demand, inflation-generated actuation, the prototypesdramatically removed the vast majority of the biofilm along the fulllength of the catheter. After that first successful biofilm removal, wethen regrew biofilm within the catheter and demonstrated thatinflation-induced strain would indeed repeatedly remove biofilm inthe catheter. Interestingly, upon dissection of the catheters, weobserved that areas that underwent compressive strain, as predictedby the finite element models, debonded biofilm similarly toareas that underwent tensile strain. In total, using currently availablemanufacturing techniques from a catheter manufacturer, wedeveloped a urinary catheter that allows the repeated and thoroughremoval of infectious biofilms from its interior; we are thuspoised to impact the long-stagnant urinary catheter technologymarket.