Development of C. albican Anti-attachment Inkjet 3D Printing Ink, via High Throughput Screening

The fungal pathogen Candida albicans (C. albicans) is particularly problematic for immunocompromised patients and those with medical implants. Introducing Candida-resistant medical devices could potentially reduce mortality rates from such infections. Here, we develop the use of high throughput screening (HTS) methodology that can thoroughly and effectively screen a large number of methacrylate and acrylate monomers for their resistance to attachment by C. albicans. In this work, we demonstrate the method using nine selected methacrylate and acrylate monomers and specifically discuss the method developed for UVcuring based 3D printing (3DP) processes, focusing on inkjet printing. The HTS process considers the viscosity and surface tension of monomers for their printing performance, the resulting mechanical properties of its polymer, resistance to fungal attachment, and polymer toxicity towards C. albicans after inkjet printing. This HTS technique accelerates the evaluation and development of polymers with fungal anti-attachment properties for both medical and 3DP fields. Out of the nine polymers demonstrated, 4-tert-butylcyclohexyl acrylate (TBCHA), 4- tert-butylcyclohexyl methacrylate (TBCHMA) were both new fungal anti-attachment materials that were found to be printable using this methodology.