Embryo inspired Bandage heals quicker than Band-Aid | Bio Engineering

A new Jell-O–like bandage heals wounds quickly when placed on the skin

The scientist has come across a way to heal the wound in a superfast way using the Gel-o-type band-aid.

Normally in adult wounds, skin cells called keratinocytes slowly crawl across the injury to cover the wounded area.

But when an embryo is wounded in the lab, it heals quickly and efficiently as thin filaments of a protein called actin quickly draw the edges of the wound together like a purse string.

The scientist used Alginate (a gel-like substance from seaweed), Temperature-sensitive polymer (which shrinks at 32°C) and Chitosan ((a long, linear sugar molecule from the hard outer skeleton of shellfish) used as the bonding agent between gel and skin).

These make the gel is more than 17 times as sticky as a Band-Aid, ensuring it does not peel away from the wounded area.

In addition to the gel, the researchers added silver nanoparticles to kill harmful microbes.

The team finally tested this gel-o-type band-aid with a wounded mice Vs Normal Band-aid treatment. The results were positive. The Gel-o-type healed less than 5 days than the normal band-aid treatment.

The researchers plan to test the technology on other animals before they seek Food and Drug Administration approval.