Today, implant surgeries are very common. They are usually successful, and the patient can return to their lives as if nothing had happened. But if we fast forward forty years, and these types of surgeries will have become too risky to perform. As with many other aspects of modern healthcare that we have taken for granted since the turn of the millennium, the outlook for the widespread use and reliance on implantable medical devices is becoming increasingly uncertain, because of the alarming rise in antibiotic resistance. When people get an infection that cannot be treated with antibiotics, there is little that can be done.

The goal of the workshop is to launch a collaborative project that will lead to the development of a new generation of biomaterials designed, made from, or coated with, biomolecules that promote the growth of human tissue cells, as well having antibacterial properties. By utilising healing properties inherent to natural biomolecules, a new generation of implant biomaterials can be produced to actively repel bacteria and prevent the development of biofilm-induced infections, while including host tissue healing and immune-competence around the implant.