UCalgary biomaterial research lab a shining example of transdisciplinary research

Medical devices and implants are essential tools in health care, used in everything from surgery to long-term disease management. Researchers at UCalgary’s Badv Lab: Translational Biomedical Engineering Laboratory are working to understand how synthetic materials used in medical devices interact with our body’s biological systems, aiming to create the next generation of biomaterials to ensure fewer medical complications. 

“These synthetic systems and your body want to start communicating but your body may recognize them as a foreign entity,” says Dr. Maryam Badv, PhD, assistant professor in the Schulich School of Engineering. 

“As a result, you can get biofouling on the surface of the device which is a build of unwanted materials. The buildup can be in the form of clot formation, which is one of the biggest complications. Another is bacteria adhesion that could end up forming a biofilm or an infection.” 

The Badv Lab is trying to create new multifunctional biomaterials that improve how some devices interact with some biological systems.

New materials help medical devices work better with the human body

“Depending on the application, we either develop super-repellent coatings that could be applied to existing implants, medical devices and surfaces, or we try to develop new and novel biomaterials by combining natural and synthetic polymers. The biomaterials we create aren’t necessarily limited to use in medical devices. They can also be used as coatings applied to high-touch surfaces in hospitals, or patches used after surgery to prevent post-surgical tissue adhesion.” 

Badv adds that if you want to find the best, most innovative, most impactful and practical solution to a problem, you need a transdisciplinary approach with all the right people at the table. Especially in her field, biomedical engineering, at the intersection of health, medicine and engineering. 

“And that is only possible if you have a transdisciplinary team because there are so many angles, so many perspectives that you can’t just tackle or you can’t have that whole vision by just having one discipline or perspective when you’re looking at the project. Personally, all the projects in my lab, I don’t see another way of solving them or tackling them,” says Badv, a member of the Cumming School of Medicine’s Libin Cardiovascular Institute.

Positioning UCalgary as a leader in transdisciplinary research 

In November 2023, Badv and her team were awarded a Consolidating Transdisciplinary Connector Grant for their project, Advancing Anti-Fouling Strategies: Super-Repellent Biointerfaces and Surface Coatings for Healthcare Applications. 

Transdisciplinary Connector Grants, awarded by the Institutes for Transdisciplinary Scholarship, support existing transdisciplinary connections, advancing collaborations and positioning teams for potential further success in future scholarship and funding applications. 

And that success is exactly what happened for Badv and her team, who have since been awarded additional external funding for their work: 

• Canadian Foundation for Innovation – John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI-JELF): Integrating synthetic microbiology and materials engineering to redefine biocompatibility at the host-microbe interface.
• One Child Every Child Strategic Catalyst Seedling Award: Advancing pediatric cardiac care with multifunctional biomaterials for postsurgical tissue adhesion prevention.
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada – Research Tools and Instruments (NSERC RTI): Acquisition of an anaerobic chamber for bacterial culture, an essential tool for studying biofilms.
• New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Exploration Grant: Developing innovative platforms to assess the biocompatibility of engineered biomaterials. 

“The most important thing when I got the Connector Grant was the sense that we were on the right track. We have formed the right team, and the goals and the aims we set out to achieve, they resonate, people have understood them, and they’ve understood the impact and the transdisciplinary vision behind the work,” says Badv. 

She adds, “As a junior, female faculty member I was spearheading the team, so it really meant a lot to see that yes, this is something that is possible.”

When asked why transdisciplinary scholarship is important, she says, “There’s no other way.”

Building on and learning from the process

Badv explains that there is no start or end to this project, it’s a continual process. 

“Each grant, each team, each project that we define and develop, we learn a lot from it, both from the successes that we make and also the failures that we have.”

The team works closely with Innovate Calgary as well to move the research to the marketplace to help people. Recently, the team published a finding in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, "One-Pot Fabrication of Highly Flexible Fluorine-Free Lubricant-Infused Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Films with Superior Antifouling Properties," and have also filed for a provisional patent. 

The team discovered a new way to create a slippery, lubricant-infused, highly repellant polymeric biomaterial. Rather than coated on the surface, these properties are integrated throughout the material, making it more durable and long-lasting for real-world biomedical applications.

“One of the main goals that I have would be to see if we can actually get the technologies we develop out there and if we can get them into the market and try to see the impact on the end user. That could be the health-care sector, that could be medical device companies, and ultimately, seeing that they are being used and applied.”

Putting the team together was like fitting puzzle pieces together, they just fit.

Connector Grant team members 

• Maryam Badv, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary
• Paul Fedak, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary
• Joe Harrison, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary
• Sajjad Afraz, Medicine, Stanford University