CBR investigator, Jay Kizhakkedathu, recently honoured with a Career Investigator Award by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, has teamed up Srikantha Phani, Canada Research Chair in Dynamics of Lattice Materials and Devices to develop a novel protocol for grafting nanoscale polymer chains to the surface of PVC film.  The coated PVC acquires the remarkable capacity to bend, expand and stretch up to 10% of its original size.  The breakthrough, which has wide implications for the design of a range of biomedical devices was reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie and highlighted in a UBC “Outtakes” Story.  This work was accomplished with the collaborative help of postdoctoral fellow Yuquan Zou and Prof. Don Brooks of the CBR, and the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student Adriel Lam.