Superbug killers

It's taken the words 'superbug killers' to get me back at the blogging and this story out of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is behind it http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-05/ntu-nsi050912.php. The details are a tad sparse on the contact lens side - the contact lens company that is now using it in particular - but basically NTU has developed a 'killer coating' that can destroy 99 per cent of the bacteria and fungi that it comes into contact with. The simple/ish explanation is that the sponge-like polymer holds a positive charge that draws in the negatively charged bacteria whose cell walls are sucked into the nanopores, rupturing the cells and killing the bacterium. In the five years of research, costing over $800,000 to develop, they have also developed a liquid solution prototype. So, one would imagine, it should not be too long before we see a contact lens coated with the material, if not a liquid solution for storing the lenses.