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The US Navy has always had[br]this frustrating problem with their fleet.

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It's something called "fouling."

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Now, for all you non-seafaring folk,

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fouling is when things like algae[br]and barnacles and other marine materials

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get stuck to the sides[br]of ships and submarines.

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Used to be able to prevent this fouling

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by coating ships and submarines[br]with toxic agents, like heavy metals,

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but these heavy metals

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aren't as effective at keeping[br]ships clean as they used to be.

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And we want clean ships

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because fouling on these vessels

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actually makes them[br]less efficient in the water

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and can be easier for enemies to detect.

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This is not good.

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So several years ago,[br]the US Office of Naval Research

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called on one of my colleagues,[br]engineer scientist Dr. Anthony Brennan,

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to devise a solution to prevent fouling

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without the use of these heavy metals.

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See, Dr. Brennan was already investigating

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how things like surface roughness

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can prevent the attachment[br]of organisms like algae.

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But Dr. Brennan was struggling.

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All of the engineered surfaces[br]he came up with

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algae eventually overcame.

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And then Brennan found himself[br]at a conference in Hawaii, of all places,

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and noticed something rather intriguing.

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Take a look at these three animals:

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a manatee, a whale and a shark.

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What do you notice?

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Well, right.

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So the whale and the manatee are filthy,

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but the shark is squeaky clean.

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This is a property unique to all sharks.

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The next time you watch Shark Week,

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you'll notice each and every shark you see

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is pristine.

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(Laughter)

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Why?

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Brennan wanted to find out.

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So with the help[br]of some brave graduate students,

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they set out to find a shark.

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(Laughter)

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They found one in the shallow water

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and carefully took a mold of its skin[br]using a dental impression material.

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Don't worry.

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The shark wasn't harmed in the process,[br]although I'm sure he didn't appreciate it.

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(Laughter)

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So the students took the mold back[br]to the lab and put it under a microscope,

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and this is what it looks like.

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The sharkskin is comprised[br]of little denticles,

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and they overlap to create a diamond-shape[br]repeating pattern on the sharkskin.

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Upon further investigation,

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Brennan and his team noticed[br]that the texture on these denticles

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is actually what's responsible[br]for keeping sharks clean.

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I'm a microbiologist[br]and infectious disease expert,

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and I find this fascinating.

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I've spent my career[br]trying to keep surfaces clean,

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especially the surfaces[br]of medical devices.

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In hospitals this is a massive problem.

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See, what happens is bacteria[br]who are really normally good

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find themselves in places[br]they shouldn't be

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as a result of some medical procedure.

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Sometime during or after surgery,

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bacteria latch onto the surface[br]of a medical device, stay there,

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and cause a serious infection;

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and this makes it impossible[br]for the body to heal.

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Take a look at these surgical wires

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used to close a patient's sternum[br]following open-heart surgery.

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Notice the tiny clusters[br]of bacteria on the surface?

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This patient didn't heal for months

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until the wires were removed,[br]and replaced with clean ones.

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You know, it used to be

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we just used antibiotics[br]to treat these types of infections.

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Antibiotics were an amazing drug,

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for a while.

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But eventually, bacteria were exposed[br]to antibiotics so frequently

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they were forced to adapt.

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And survival is[br]the key driver of evolution,

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and that's what we're talking about here:

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bacterial evolution.

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Perhaps you've heard[br]about this in the news.

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It's referred to[br]as "Antimicrobial Resistance."

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The US Centers for[br]Disease Control and Prevention

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call antimicrobial resistance

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one of the greatest[br]public health challenges of our time.

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Illnesses that were once easily treatable

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are now untreatable.

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In the US alone every year,

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more than two million people will get[br]an antibiotic resistant infection,

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and over 23,000 people will die[br]as a result of that infection.

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The pharmaceutical industry

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is rushing to develop[br]more and more and more antimicrobials,

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desperately trying to outpace[br]antimicrobial resistance.

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But bacteria and germs,

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they evolve so much more quickly[br]than we could innovate ways to kill them.

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It's clear the antimicrobial era[br]is coming to an end,

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so we have to think about this[br]in a whole new way.

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What if instead of trying to kill bacteria[br]after they cause infections,

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we simply make it harder for bacteria

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to stick to the surfaces[br]of medical devices in the first place?

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In other words,

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we prevent these infections[br]from occurring altogether.

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That's what brings me back[br]to what we've learned from sharks.

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It's the texture of sharkskin[br]that makes them resistant to fouling.

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So what if we change[br]the texture of medical devices

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to make them resistant to bacteria[br]causing so many problems?

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Dr. Brennan knew he had[br]a major medical breakthrough on his hands.

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He called up some trusted friends[br]right here in Denver Colorado,

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and they started a company,[br]and they called it Sharklet Technologies.

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In 2013, I joined the team,

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and together we used engineered surfaces[br]mimicking the skin of sharks

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to prevent bacteria[br]and other medical complications.

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Our first commercial device[br]is a urological catheter,

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which doctors began using[br]for patients just last year.

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(Applause)

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Take a look at these example images.

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The surface on the left[br]is a smooth surface,

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and the one on the right[br]is a sharkskin-like texture.

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Notice how much bacteria's[br]on the smooth surface

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compared to the sharkskin-like surface?

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This is because the sharkskin-like texture

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creates an inhospitable surface[br]for bacterial attachment and growth.

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It works on sharks, and it works here too

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because the texture takes advantage[br]of principles of surface energy.

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Now, surface energy

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is really a description[br]of a detailed property of a surface.

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It can include things like[br]water interaction or material stiffness.

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The roughened sharkskin-like texture

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creates a surface[br]with greater surface energy.

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You know, we interact[br]with surface energy changes all the time.

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We often just don't notice it.

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For example, we like when rain beads up[br]and runs off our car, right?

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Well, this happens best[br]with a nice coat of wax.

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Wax is a material with greater[br]surface energy characteristics.

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Now, we can't coat medical devices in wax,

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but we can change their surface texture.

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And this approach works[br]on all types of medical devices,

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from catheters to pacemakers,

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and it's effective against all types[br]of bacteria and germs.

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As it turns out,

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we can actually do more[br]than just bacteria-proof medical devices.

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We can prevent other medical complications

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through understanding[br]the power of surface energy,

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things like frequent clogging,

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excessive blood clotting

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or poor healing interactions.

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The next generation[br]of medical device surfaces

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inspired by the skin of sharks

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will actually expand[br]how medical devices are made.

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Really the core issue

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is that we create all types[br]of sophisticated medical devices,

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things to pump fluid into our blood,

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keep our heart beating on pace,

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or even stimulate brain activity.

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But bad things happen

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when these devices don't interact well[br]with our bodies' natural mechanisms.

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We've actually discovered

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that we can improve[br]how medical devices are tolerated

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through subtly tuning[br]the surface energy characteristics,

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like for example, we can prevent[br]a lot of the excessive clotting

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that's occurring here[br]on the smooth surface,

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compared to the sharkskin-like texture.

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This means that we can actually[br]match the required surface energy

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with the medical use

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to prevent complications,

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all with the power of sharks.

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Ultimately, as we continue[br]to engineer smart surfaces,

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we'll require fewer antimicrobials,

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fewer chemicals[br]and fewer harsh additives,

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and this will make[br]life-saving medical technology

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safer for all of us to use.

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This is innovation[br]in its purest form, to be sure.

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But it's also a good reminder

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of just how important it is[br]to observe the subtle cues

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in the raw mystery of the world around us.

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Thank you.

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(Applause) [br]