alex jones, a doctoral student in the department of textiles, merchandising and interiors at the university of georgia, is studying the antibacterial properties of bioplastics. he&39s found that albumin, a protein found in egg whites, looks the most promising. photo courtesy of cal powellugabioplastics made from protein sources such as albumin and whey have shown significant antibacterial properties, findings that could eventually lead to their use in plastics used in medical applications such as wound healing dressings, sutures, catheter tubes and drug delivery, according to a recent study by the university of georgia college of family and consumer sciences. the bioplastic materials could also be used for food packaging.researchers tested three nontraditional bioplastic materials albumin, whey and soy proteins as alternatives to conventional petroleumbased plastics that pose risks of contamination.in particular, albumin, a protein found in egg whites, demonstrated tremendous antibacterial properties when blended with a traditional plasticizer such as glycerol."it was found that it had complete inhibition, as in no bacteria would grow on the plastic once applied," says alex jones, a doctoral student in the department of textiles, merchandising and interiors. "the bacteria wouldn&39t be able to live on it."the study appears in the online version of the journal of applied polymer science.one of the researchers&39 aims is to find ways to reduce the amount of petroleum used in traditional plastic production another is to find a fully biodegradable bioplastic.the albuminglycerol blended bioplastic met both standards, jones says."if you put it in a landfill, this being pure protein, it will break down," he says. "if you put it in soil for a monthat most two monthsthese plastics will disappear."the next step in the research involves a deeper analysis of the albuminbased bioplastic&39s potential for use in the biomedical and food packaging fields.as noted in the study, 4.5 hospital admissions out of every 100 in the u.s. in 2002 resulted in a hospitalacquired infection. in addition to the risk of contamination in hospitals, food contamination as a result of traditional plastics is a notable risk. researchers are encouraged by the antimicrobial properties of albuminbased bioplastics that could potentially reduce these risks through drug elutionloading the bioplastic with either drugs or food preservatives that can kill bacteria or prevent it from spreading.study coauthors are suraj sharma in the department of textiles, merchandising and interiors and abhyuday mandal in the department of statistics, who aided in the statistical analysis and discussion.source university of georgia 
