HAMILTON, Oct. 24, 2018 - Researchers at McMaster University have solved a vexing problem by engineering surface coatings that can repel everything, such as bacteria, viruses and living cells, but can be modified to permit beneficial exceptions.
The discovery holds significant promise for medical and other applications, making it possible for implants such as vascular grafts, replacement heart valves and artificial joints to bond to the body without risk of infection or blood clotting.
The new nanotechnology has the potential to greatly reduce false positives and negatives in medical tests by eliminating interference from non-target elements in blood and urine.
In the case of a synthetic heart valve, for example, a repellent coating can prevent blood cells from sticking and forming clots, making it much safer.
Still, she explains, a completely repellent coating also prevents the body from integrating the new valve into the tissue of the heart itself.
"If you want a device to perform better and not be rejected by the body, this is what you need to do," says co-author Maryam Badv, also a McMaster PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. "It is a huge problem in medicine."
Outside the body, selectively designed repellent surfaces could make diagnostic tests much more accurate by allowing only the particular target of a test - a virus, bacterium or cancer cell, for example - to stick to the biosensor that is looking for it, a critical advantage given the challenges of testing in complex fluids such as blood and urine.
The researchers, who collaborated with Jeffrey Weitz of the Thrombosis & Atherosclerosis Research Institute at Hamilton Health Sciences to understand the challenges related to making successful implants, are now working on the next stages of research to get their work into clinical use.
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Photos showing the researchers and their work are available here: https://adobe.ly/2PIut4x (Caption info is available by clicking the dialog box on each photo. All photos by Kevin Patrick Robbins, McMaster University.)
To arrange an interview with Tohid Didar, please contact him at 905-525-9140, ext. 20413 or didar@mcmaster.ca
ACS Nano