Ready, Set, Better: New Bandage Accelerates Healing

Diabetic patients’ injuries heal more slowly than those of an average patient, so even a minor wound can quickly become serious. Researchers at Northwestern University have created a new regenerative bandage that can heal diabetics’ wounds 33% faster than standard bandages.

“The novelty is that we identified a segment of a protein in skin that is important to wound healing, made the segment and incorporated it into an antioxidant molecule that self-aggregates at body temperature to create a scaffold that facilitates the body’s ability to regenerate tissue at the wound site,” says Dr. Guillermo Ameer, director of Northwestern’s Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering, who led the study. “With this newer approach, we’re not releasing drugs or outside factors.”

The bandage is a hydrogel liquid that conforms to the injury. When healing is complete, the bandage rinses off with saline, so removal is less likely to reinjure the wound site than with traditional bandages.

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