Surface Coating Repels All Bacteria, Viruses and Other Liquids
Siobhan Treacy | October 25, 2018
Blood slips off the repellent surface at left, but clings to an untreated surface at right. Source: Kevin Patrick Robbins, McMaster University
Researchers from McMaster University have engineered a surface coating that can repel anything and everything, from bacteria and viruses, to blood. The coating can be modified and adjusted to allow some things to stick to the surface while repelling others. Researchers say that the coating could have great potential for medical devices and integrating implants into the body, while lowering the risk of blood clots and infection. It could also lower the number of false positives and negatives in medical tests.
Repellant surfaces are not a new concept, but this is the first kind that can be customized to repel some substances and not others, or modified to repel all substances. In the past, repellant surfaces were used to waterproof phones and windshields, repel bacteria from food prep stations and in some limited medical applications.
The coating allows a new range of medical applications. For example, the coating could be used with a synthetic heart valve -- by applying the coating to the synthetic valve, it can repel blood cells and keep them from sticking and creating blood clots.
"A coating that repels blood cells could potentially eliminate the need for medicines such as warfarin that are used after implants to cut the risk of clots," said co-author Sara Imani, a McMaster Ph.D. student in Biomedical Engineering.
But the repellant coating could cause the body to reject the valve. That is why customization of the coating is important. The coating can be adjusted to allow only heart cell tissues to infiltrate it. This allows the body to integrate the new valve while lowering the risk of blood clots and infection. The same kind of thing can be done for other implants.
Outside of the body, having selectively repellant surfaces would be perfect for diagnostic tests as well as for testing more complex substances, like urine or blood.
