Printable/sprayable anti-infective and anti-fouling coatings based on biomedical-grade polymers

Despite substantial research efforts, the problems of spreading infectious diseases (such as COVID-19) through surface transmission and infections associated with medical devices persist. One promising solution is to apply a coating to the surface of concern that can provide effective surface disinfection. However, existing approaches typically provide only short-term disinfection effects (a few hours), contain materials having potential human or environmental health risks, or require specific fabrication steps that can be performed only during device manufacturing. Instead, the project proposed herein aims to develop and validate the use of water-based coatings made of biomedical-grade polymers that offer long-term disinfection, and can chemically bond to different surfaces of medical relevance using a facile application strategy (i.e. printing, dip-coating, or spraying) that would be scalable to industrial production and/or applicable at the point of care. We anticipate such coatings will offer a safer and longer-term solution to the challenge of surface disinfection.

Faculty Supervisor:

Todd Ryan Hoare

Student:

Afshin Abrishamkar

Partner:

Incubate Innovate Network of Canada

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

McMaster University