A former UBC postdoctoral fellow is featured in the February 2017 edition of Biomaterials with the development of a novel coating layer for medical devices. Dr. Kai Yu is the lead author of the paper, which addresses the creation of an anti-adhesive antimicrobial peptide coating that has been developed to combat catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). This novel coating has shown promise in preventing these hospital-acquired infections, which can lead to longer hospital stays, increased care costs, and ultimately to higher rates of patient mortality.
Dr. Yu is currently a Research Associate in the Kizhakkedathu Lab within the Centre for Blood Research. The research was conducted with Drs. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu, Donald Brooks, and Robert Hancock of the Centre for Blood Research and Dr. Dirk Lange of the Department of Urologic Sciences, and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.