Past Project
Kelserra
2023 / 2025
About
The work, in plain language.
Sutures and existing tissue adhesives both have well-known limitations in minimally invasive and laparoscopic surgery: sutures risk infection and tissue damage, while natural-polymer adhesives are often too weak or too complex to prepare at the point of care.
Kelserra is a surgical adhesive formulation inspired by the underwater adhesion of brown algae, primarily Fucus serratus. The core formulation combines alginate, phloroglucinol, and calcium ions, and preliminary work suggests it can match the strength of commercial fibrin sealants while avoiding the disease transmission and thrombosis risks that come with blood-derived products.
The team presented at the 2024 CUBEC Conference and competed at the Biodesign Challenge in New York, placing as a top 8 finalist. The final year focused on product refinement and a manuscript.
Project archive
Images from the original project page.
These images are preserved in the same order as the legacy McGill BioDesign page.
View the original project pageKelserra project archive, image 1 of 3.
1 / 3
What we did
Bench-tested, presented, shipped.
- Completed a literature review of bio-inspired wet adhesives and selected the brown algae system.
- Developed and tested multiple adhesive formulations in the lab.
- Presented at CUBEC 2024 and Biodesign Challenge 2024 (top 8 finalist).
Team
Led by.
Every project starts with a lead who carries it from idea to build. Want to lead the next one?
Related