The breakthrough came after Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers found that the stiffness of surfaces partly determines if bacteria sticks to them.

MIT engineers created ultrathin films made of polymers that could be applied to medical devices and other surfaces to control microbe accumulation -- either preventing accumulations of bacteria or promoting growth of desirable bacteria.

The goal is to help reduce the spread of hospital-acquired infections, which kill 100,000 people each year.

"All other factors being equal, mechanical stiffness of material surfaces increases bacterial adhesion," said Professor Krystyn Van Vliet, who noted stiffness has usually been overlooked in studies of how bacteria adhere to surfaces in favor of other traits, such as surface charge, roughness and attraction to or repulsion from water.

The research that included Michael Rubner, Jenny Lichter, Todd Thompson, Maricela Delgadillo and Takehiro Nishikawais is to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Biomacromolecules.