Advancing Biomaterials Through Quick and Efficient Hydrogel Bonding
Category Engineering Thursday - March 21 2024, 21:25 UTC - 10 months ago Scientists at the Wyss Institute have developed a new technique for rapidly bonding hydrogels using a thin film of chitosan. This versatile method has potential for a wide range of clinical applications and could revolutionize the production of new biomaterial devices.
Hydrogels have become a popular biomaterial in the medical field due to their versatility and compatibility with human tissues. However, the challenge of quickly and efficiently bonding hydrogel layers has hindered their potential for even greater applications. Thanks to the work of scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and SEAS, a solution has been found using a thin film of chitosan .
Chitosan, derived from the outer skeletons of shellfish, has shown great promise in various biomedical fields due to its ability to bond and protect hydrogels with ease. The researchers have successfully applied this method to address various clinical needs, including cooling of tissues, sealing of vascular injuries, and preventing adhesions of internal body surfaces during surgeries.This new approach not only allows for rapid adhesion between hydrogel layers, but it also offers a simple and versatile process that can be used for different types of hydrogels and other polymeric materials .
This has broader implications for the production and development of new biomaterial devices, such as flexible electronic encapsulation, tissue wraps, and 3D scaffolds for tissue regeneration.The research team at Wyss Institute, led by senior author David Mooney, is no stranger to using sugar-based synthetic materials for biomedical purposes. Their work in this area has been backed by significant funding from DARPA and NIH, and has led to several breakthroughs in the field of biomaterials .
With chitosan films as a powerful tool, they hope to continue advancing biomaterials and addressing unmet clinical needs in the future.
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