• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Friday, August 19, 2022
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Advanced care: Smart wound dressings with built-in healing sensors

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 28, 2021
in Biology
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Fluorescent sensors glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in

IMAGE

Credit: RMIT University

Researchers have developed smart wound dressings with built-in nanosensors that glow to alert patients when a wound is not healing properly.

The multifunctional, antimicrobial dressings feature fluorescent sensors that glow brightly under UV light if infection starts to set in and can be used to monitor healing progress.

The smart dressings, developed by a team of scientists and engineers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, harness the powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties of magnesium hydroxide.

They are cheaper to produce than silver-based dressings but equally as effective in fighting bacteria and fungi, with their antimicrobial power lasting up to a week.

Project leader Dr Vi Khanh Truong said the development of cost-effective antimicrobial dressings with built-in healing sensors would be a significant advance in wound care.

“Currently the only way to check the progress of wounds is by removing bandage dressings, which is both painful and risky, giving pathogens the chance to attack,” said Truong, a Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at RMIT.

“The smart dressings we’ve developed not only fight bacteria and reduce inflammation to help promote healing, they also have glowing sensors to track and monitor for infection.

“Being able to easily see if something is going wrong would reduce the need for frequent dressing changes and help to keep wounds better protected.

“With further research, we hope our multifunctional dressings could become part of a new generation of low-cost, magnesium-based technologies for advanced wound care.”

Next generation wound dressings

The global advanced wound dressing market is currently valued at an estimated $US6.9 billion and is expected to grow to $US9.9 billion by 2028, with demand fueled by technological innovations, increasing numbers of surgical procedures, and the rising prevalence of chronic wounds and chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

Though magnesium is known to be antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and highly biocompatible, there has been little practical research on how it could be used on medically-relevant surfaces like dressings and bandages.

The new study published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, with lead author Dr Adam Truskewycz (now at the University of Bergen, Norway), is the first to develop fluorescent magnesium hydroxide nanosheets that could contour to the curves of bandage fibers.

The research team synthesised the nanosheets – which are 10,000 to 100,000 times thinner than a human hair – and embedded them onto nanofibres.

The magnesium hydroxide nanosheets respond to changes in pH, which makes them ideal for use as sensors to track healing.

Healthy skin is naturally slightly acidic while infected wounds are moderately alkaline.

Under UV light, the nanosheets glow brightly in alkaline environments and fade in acidic conditions, indicating the different pH levels that mark the stages of wound healing.

The nanosheets are easily integrated onto any biocompatible nanofibre, which means they can then be deposited onto standard cotton bandages.

Laboratory tests showed the magnesium hydroxide nanosheets were non-toxic to human cells, while destroying emerging pathogens like drug-resistant golden staph and Candida auris.

Scaleable and cost-effective

Truong said the process to make the fluorescent nanosheets was simple to scale for potential mass production.

“Normally, antimicrobial wound dressings start to lose their performance after a few days but our studies show these new dressings could last up to seven days,” he said.

“And because magnesium is so abundant compared to silver, our advanced dressings could be up to 20 times cheaper.”

###

The research team is keen to collaborate with clinicians to further progress the technology, through pre-clinical and clinical trials.

The multi-disciplinary study was co-authored by RMIT researchers Dr Nazim Nassar (School of Science), Dr Shadi Houshyar and Dr Hong Yin (School of Engineering), Dr Billy Murdoch (RMIT Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility), Professor Ivan Cole (Director, Advanced Manufacturing and Fabrication Enabling Capability Platform, and Leader, RDF Group), Professor Andy Ball (Director, ARC Training Centre for the Transformation of Australian Biosolids Resource).

The research was supported by the Australian-American Fulbright Program.

‘Fluorescent Magnesium Hydroxide Nanosheet Bandages with Tailored Properties for Biocompatible Antimicrobial Wound Dressings and pH Monitoring’ is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces (DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c05908)

Media Contact
Gosia Kaszubska
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/media-releases-and-expert-comments/2021/jun/smart-dressings-healing-sensors

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c05908

Tags: Biomedical/Environmental/Chemical EngineeringChemistry/Physics/Materials SciencesMaterialsMedicine/HealthNanotechnology/MicromachinesTechnology/Engineering/Computer ScienceTrauma/Injury
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

TBI Blood Tests

Early blood tests predict death, severe disability for traumatic brain injury

August 19, 2022
The first sexual reproduction event earses the cost of meiosis

Novel hypotheses that answer key questions about the evolution of sexual reproduction

August 19, 2022

Medieval friars were ‘riddled with parasites’, study finds

August 19, 2022

Zhang and colleagues win an $11.2 million NIH program project grant

August 18, 2022
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Picture of the horse specimen.

    Ancient DNA clarifies the early history of American colonial horses

    57 shares
    Share 23 Tweet 14
  • Fatigue, headache among top lingering symptoms months after COVID

    40 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • Chi-Huey Wong awarded Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Synthesis

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10
  • Dogs lying in the middle of the road after sunrise at Kewa Pueblo, in no hurry to start the day

    34 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

VaccinesUniversity of WashingtonUrogenital SystemVirologyVehiclesWeather/StormsWeaponryViolence/CriminalsVirusVaccineZoology/Veterinary ScienceUrbanization

Recent Posts

  • Early blood tests predict death, severe disability for traumatic brain injury
  • Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding: rebleeding rates and rebleeding predictors found
  • Collaborations inspired early-career NIH grant that could lead to treatment breakthroughs for a range of medical conditions
  • Novel hypotheses that answer key questions about the evolution of sexual reproduction
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In