The winner in the health category was Prof. Marcela Bilek (shown left) and her colleagues, Profs David MacKenzie, Cristobal dos Remedios and Tony Weiss for their work on plasma-induced ion implantation to activate surfaces of medical devices. The treated surfaces readily bind the patient’s own proteins, cloaking the coated devices from the body’s defence systems and minimising rejection reactions. Alternatively, surfaces can be coated with other proteins and small molecules before implantation, to encourage specific biological responses.
October 22, 2012
