Medical dressing big breakthrough LED luminous reminder dressing change

Department of mechanical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, engineers successfully developed a water based hydrogel material, embedded LED lights can be reminded to change dressings. (source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

The MIT engineer is likely to design a wound dressing in the future, the basal dressing is sticky, malleable and gel like material can be embedded temperature sensors, LED lights and other electronic devices. At the same time, it can also be used to establish a small drug delivery channel and storage pharmacy store. The smart wound dressing can release the drug in response to changes in the surface temperature of the skin, and can be lit when the drug is insufficient. The use of the knee or elbow and other more frequently on the move, the dressing can be extended with the body, while the embedded electronic devices as usual.

The key to the design of the smart dressing is due to the designer of the hydrogel matrix, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Xuanhe Zhao. He also designed a matrix of LED lights, embedded in a layer of hydrogel. Even if the paste in the different parts of the body, such as elbows and knees and other activities greatly parts, or to the normal operation of the gel.

Zhao also has great expectations for the hydrogel matrix, which is an ideal biological device that can be used to transfer electronic devices into the organism. He is currently studying the possibility of using the hydrogel matrix as a glucose sensor and a neural detector. The traditional glucose sensing device to be implanted in the body, usually caused by foreign body reaction and cause the immune system to activate the alarm, which makes the outer layer by layer by layer sensor, make the doctor often replacement of the sensor and must be implanted in the body.

Different hydrogels have been used to cover glucose sensors and successfully block the reaction of the immune system layer by layer. The hydrogel matrix is relatively fragile and easy to decompose in the activity. However, the team's research and development of hydrogel sensing system is likely to have high toughness and longer life.

At present, researchers are trying to use a variety of soft materials, hoping to successfully develop a biocompatible neural devices (neural device). Through our cooperation, we are trying to apply the hydrogel matrix to the nervous system, because the hydrogel can be designed to have a very similar mechanical and physiological characteristics of the brain. (compile: China LED network editor Zhang Yahan)

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