To keep bacteria from growing on breathing tubes, a UF professor found a solution in the ocean.

A UF professor is being nationally honored for creating a sharkskin-based technology that will help stop bacteria from growing on ships and breathing tubes among other things.

Anthony B. Brennan, a UF materials science and engineering professor, will be inducted as a 2017 Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors in Washington, D.C., on April 5. His inventions led him to found his company, Sharklet Technologies, which is funded by the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research, according to Brennan.

“I just feel honored and extremely surprised,” Brennan said. “Never would’ve guessed it.”

Brennan said he used sharkskin-inspired patterns to create a microscopic technology that is put on a surface such as silicon or copper. The pattern creates a barrier that makes bacteria growth difficult.

He first thought of the idea in 2002 when he saw a submarine he thought looked like a whale, Brennan said. He then started looking at marine animals until he came across nursery sharks.

He found that while petting a shark, from nose to tail, the skin is smooth, but going backward, it’s rough because of the skin pattern.

The 66-year-old professor said he tried to compare the layered diamond-shaped sharkskin to a mathematical model and thought about how it could be applied to a ship.

When he was able to develop the technology, it was the first time green algae didn’t grow on a surface without toxins, he said.

Zahara Jaffer, 46, an assistant director at the UF Office of Technology and Licensing, nominated Brennan for the fellowship, Brennan said.

Jaffer said many people make significant discoveries, but Brennan was able to form his discovery into a tangible thing that can help society.

“He’s just one of those people that doesn’t stop,” she said.

Anthony B. Brennan