ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
A new type of bandage, made with a chemically modified version of the polysaccharide chitosan, may offer an inexpensive way to speed up wound healing in trauma centers and on the battlefield. By attaching benzene-n-octadecyl tails to the backbone of chitosan, a team led by University of Maryland’s Srinivasa R. Raghavan created an amphiphilic biopolymer, dubbed hm-chitosan, which causes blood to thicken into a gel that’s similar to a blood clot. Gelling occurs when the hm-chitosan’s hydrophobic tails hook into the membranes of blood cells and platelets via hydrophobic interactions, causing them to clump together. Raghavan likened the phenomenon to a nanoscale version of Velcro, which fastens to a looped fabric by virtue of tiny hooks. What’s more, when α-cyclodextrin is added to the gelled blood, it will liquefy again. Raghavan and his former student Matthew Dowling set up a company, Remedium Technologies, to commercialize the technology. Raghavan also published an account in Biomaterials earlier this year (DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.12.033).
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter