Dr. Zhenwei Ma

Principal Investigator

Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia (UBC)
Principal Investigator, International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD)
Associate Member, School of Biomedical Engineering, UBC
Associate Member, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC

Research Interests

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Dr. Ma acquired extensive training and developed deep expertise in Chemical Engineering (M.E. McGill University), Mechanical Engineering (Ph.D. McGill University), Biomedical Engineering (Fellow, Harvard University), Pathology (Banting/Killam Postdoc Fellow, University of British Columbia) and Clinical Translation (American Heart Association Postdoc Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Passionate about bridging application-oriented engineering and curiosity-driven science, he leads cross-disciplinary research aimed at designing translational biointerfaces to solve pressing clinical and biomedical challenges. His research contributions have been recognized by prestigious awards such as the Graduate Student Silver Award (Materials Research Society), the Alan Gent Distinguished Paper Award (Adhesion Society), the Baxter Young Investigator Award (Baxter Healthcare), and the Relève Étoile Louis-Berlinguet Award (Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies).

Visit Dr. Ma’s lab website

Dr. Ma’s lab aims to design, engineer and manufacture multifunctional precision biointerfaces, biomaterials and devices to monitor, mimic and regulate human pathophysiology. They’re particularly interested in the following research directions:

  1. Biointerfaces and biomaterials design
  2. Medical device engineering and functionalization
  3. Mechanopathology and mechanotherapy
  4. Interfacial mechanics of biological and synthetic materials

Featured Publications

  1. Ma et al, Controlled tough bioadhesion mediated by ultrasound. Science (2022).
  2. Ma et al, Bioinspired tough gel sheath for robust and versatile surface functionalization. Science Advances (2021).
  3. Ma et al, Multifaceted design and emerging applications of tissue adhesives. Advanced Materials (2021)
  4. Ma et al, Bioinspired printable tough adhesives with in situ benignly triggered mechanical enhancements. Advanced Functional Materials (2024)
  5. Ma et al, Integrating hydrogels and biomedical plastics via in situ physical entanglements and covalent bonding. Advanced Healthcare Materials (2025)
  6. Ma* et al, Penetration enhancers strengthen tough hydrogel bioadhesion and modulate locoregional drug delivery, Biomaterials Science (2024)