Research scientist Rutledge Ellis-Behnke, left, and Professor Gerald Schneider stand by monitor showing a transected liver that has been sealed with a substance that can stop bleeding within seconds of application. Credit: Donna Coveney
The adhesive bandages, true, are life-saving for an injured, but injurious for the environment, which is non-biodegradable. Good news for the environmentalists – these bandages, one of the landfill-adding medical wastes – might soon become a thing of the past! Thanks to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Hong Kong University researchers.
They have developed a simple biodegradable liquid, which is capable of stopping bleeding in rodents and that too, within seconds! The liquid is composed of protein fragments called peptides. And, when it is applied to an open wound, the peptides self-assemble into a gel, sealing the wound and stopping the bleeding.
The gel then eventually breaks down into amino acids — the building blocks of proteins – capable of being used by surrounding cells to repair tissue.
