Newly developed, super slippery, liquid-repellent surface coatings have great potential to revolutionise medical devices, imparting anti-adhesive properties to materials.
Given that surface adhesion of proteins and cells is the driving factor in medical device fouling in processes such as thrombosis and pathogen adhesion in biofilm formation, this repellent surface coating is being investigated to prevent thrombosis of materials.
As part of the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (ACMM) at The University of Sydney, the Charles Perkins Centre houses a suite of microscopes with high-resolution capabilities to visualise biomolecule-surface interactions. In this project, we aim to clarify the mechanism by which the liquid-surface, Tethered-Liquid Perfluorocarbon (TLP), is anti-adhesive to proteins, mammalian cells and bacteria, with the goal of translating this to medical devices in the clinic to prevent their failure.