Functional and Adaptive Surfaces Group

University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
What the facility does

Materials science and engineering

Areas of expertise

At the Functional and Adaptive Surfaces Group, our research develops methods to fabricate nanostructured materials and material surfaces, such as nanoporous surface layers and micropost arrays. We also explore the relationship between surface topography, wetting and adhesion on bacterial surface growth, such as for the contamination of food processing surfaces or medical devices in healthcare.

Our facility has equipment for the processing (molding, curing) of polymers, and the fabrication of materials using colloidal suspensions. This equipment includes vacuum chambers, vacuum ovens, drying ovens, high temperature furnaces, oxygen plasma etching, UV curing, and spin-coating.

We also have a biosafety level 2 microbiology lab that has equipment for the handling, culture, imaging and storage of bacteria. This equipment includes a biosafety cabinet, incubators, centrifuge, colony counting, pH meter and fluorescence microscopy.

Research services

Microbiological testing of materials for bacterial contamination and growth, including performance of antibacterial surfaces, coatings, and materials; characterization of surfaces, including chemistry, topography (roughness) and contamination

Sectors of application
  • Healthcare and social services
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
  • Manufacturing and processing
Specialized lab Equipment
Microbiology lab Olympus fluorescence microscope
  NuAire biosafety cabinet
  Thermo Scientific centrifuge
  Perkin Elmer UV/Vis spectrometer
Fabrication lab Harrick plasma etcher
  Electrospinning system
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
  • Ontario Research Fund
  • Ontario Centres of Excellence