News

PFC-free textiles video

By kevin golovin | August 10, 2020

UBCO put  together a great video on Sadaf’s latest publication, Rational design of perfluoro-compound free textiles  

Sadaf's work on sustainable textiles is published!

By kevin golovin | August 10, 2020

Our collaboration with Arc’teryx towards the development of an oil-repellent textile finish that doesn’t utilize toxic perfluoro-chemicals has produced its first publication. Sadaf’s work was published today in Nature Sustainability. Congratulations Sadaf and co-authors! Rational design of perfluorocarbon-free oleophobic textiles I was also asked to write a ‘Behind the Paper’ by the Nature folks, and… Read more »

Sadaf becomes a PhD candidate!

By kevin golovin | July 30, 2020

Sadaf has passed her candidacy exam with flying colours and is now a full fledged PhD Candidate. Congratulations Sadaf!  

Behrooz's work gaining media attention!

By kevin golovin | July 27, 2020

Behrooz’s work for making any surface omniphobic has started to receive media attention! UBC’s press release Infotel.ca ScienceDaily phys.org Sciences Avenir (in French) Asia Pacific Coatings

NSERC COVID-19 Grant Awarded!

By kevin golovin | June 15, 2020

I am pleased to announce that NSERC has funded our project developing upgraded face shields for enhanced COVID-19 protection, in partnership with PRE Labs Inc. Great job Drs. Pillai and Zhao on putting together an excellent application. We will be investigating how coatings can allow face shields to be disinfected with water alone, and not… Read more »

New Publication!

By kevin golovin | June 9, 2020

Behrooz’s work on making any substrate highly liquid repellent is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces! His artwork was also selected as a Supplementary Cover image! Check out Design and High-Resolution Characterization of Silicon Wafer-like Omniphobic Liquid Layers Applicable to Any Substrate. His coatings were so good we had to come up with a… Read more »

Anti-fogging quick fix

By kevin golovin | May 27, 2020

Doing what we can!

Doing what we can to help battle COVID

By kevin golovin | May 23, 2020

With research halted, sometimes it feels a little disheartening that we cannot do more towards the fight against COVID-19. Luckily, with friends around town, sometimes it’s just a matter of connecting the right people! Collaboration helps frontline workers see clearly during long hours at work

IDEaS Component 1a Awarded!

By kevin golovin | April 26, 2020

Something like nine months ago, the DND posted their  upcoming  challenges for the next round of the IDEaS funding competition. One quizzically named challenge was, “Breaking the ice – ground solutions for removing frozen contaminants from aircraft“, which sparked the interest of Dr. Zarifi’s MEAS Lab and the OPERA Lab. We decided that detecting ice… Read more »

IDEaS Component 1b officially awarded!

By kevin golovin | March 11, 2020

Our collaborative project with Dr. Zarifi and PRE Labs Inc. has been officially awarded an IDEaS Competitive Projects Component 1b for Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Hazard Detection and Planning. We are developing the next generation of personal protective ensembles that can simultaneously protect and detect wearers from hazardous solids, liquids, and gases. More information… Read more »