What would sterile the environment and whatever the means of disinfection, we may possess, on any surface, in any case will accumulate bacteria and viruses. So if we can’t affect it, maybe we should do something with the very surfaces? Did the researchers from McMaster University are developing a smart coating that can repel all but that will be included in the “list of exceptions”.
Such developments there since 2011 and they are often used to create waterproof coatings of smartphones, electronic circuits, windshields of cars and so on.
“It was a huge achievement, but to derive maximum benefit from the use of such materials we had to create a polling mechanism that would allow us to leave the desired compound on the surface.” — said one of the authors of Tohid Didar MacMaster in an interview with the journal ACS Nano.
As the creators say, the new coating is extremely successfully applied in medical practice, especially in transplantation. They can be used to protect the heart valves, vascular implants and artificial joints without the risk of infection. For example, a coating that repels blood cells, can potentially remove the need for such medications as warfarin used to prevent blood clots.
Left the blood slides off the treated surface. The right remains in the form of drops on raw
But outside of transplantation, the coating can be used with equal success. Besides the obvious use in creating surgical instruments, it can be used in diagnosis. Creating, for example, the test sample, which will “stick” only certain bacteria or viruses. This will make their identification fairly accurate even at low concentrations.
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