| Meet the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s David Lynn Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering College of Engineering |
 |
Research area Design and synthesis of functional organic materials and the fabrication and physical characterization of macromolecular assemblies, nanoscale materials and interfaces, with particular interests in the design of functional polyelectrolytes, reactive polymers and developing solutions to problems of biomedical and biotechnological importance.
What excites you about your work?
“I think one of the most exciting things is coming up with and developing completely new concepts and ideas and seeing them develop from something that works ‘in principle’ or ‘in the lab’ to something that has the potential to be practical and address important societal needs. A lot of the materials we make have the potential to address problems, such as bacterial biofouling, that are important in quite a wide range of contexts—developing platform technologies and then working to tailor them, scale them and make them practical for use in specific applications is always exciting.”
What do you hope to achieve?
“One of the areas we’re particularly excited about now is the design of ‘slippery’ liquid-infused materials that offer new ways to prevent fouling by bacteria or other organisms and substances. The work we’re doing now is aimed at developing processes for the fabrication of slippery coatings that are scalable and more compatible with various types of manufacturing processes. This also involves going deeper into the kinds of testing that might be needed for a particular application, whether it’s understanding compatibility with blood in the context of catheter design, or things like understanding mechanical properties and long-term stability for potential applications in marine environments. These are the kind of things that go beyond the usual research and design work we do but are helpful for firms that may want to license this technology.”
David is a thorough researcher who develops robust solutions to problems that industries face. His innovations on ‘slippery’ liquid-infused materials can be deployed in a variety of technology areas. We are excited to partner with industry to commercialize these technologies.
– Michael Carey, WARF, Licensing Manager
Want to learn more?
Michael Carey, [email protected], 608.960.9867