I-Corps: Morphing surfaces for anti-fouling applications

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project would be in the development of a new approach to anti-fouling that can be used synergistically with other existing approaches. Surface fouling is encountered in a vast range of situations: biofouling of ships, biofouling of medical implant devices, thrombus formation on blood-contacting surfaces, mineral scale formation, and a variety of foulants in the food and chemicals industries. Surface fouling has high costs ranging from increased fuel cost in ships, poorer heat exchange in the chemical industry, infection or repeated surgery in the medical contexts, and increased equipment costs in water treatment. The technology offers wide-ranging benefits to society ranging from reduced infection of implanted medical devices, reduced operating costs in membrane filtration, and longer equipment life in the chemical industry. This I-Corps project seeks to evaluate the commercial potential of a new approach to anti-fouling surfaces. The fundamental principle underlying the strategy is to focus mechanical stress to the interface between the foulant and the surface, and thereby force deadhesion of the foulant. Successful in vitro experiments have been conducted showing that this principle can greatly reduce the fouling of surfaces placed in contact with blood or with platelet-enriched plasma. These results suggest that the principle can be applied regardless of the chemical nature of the surface. The anti-fouling principle is purely mechanical and therefore may be used in conjunction with chemical modification approaches, such as fluorination. The technology is presently being evaluated with other foulants in a non-medical context, for instance in algal growth or mineral scale formation.