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Print Edition StoriesFriday, July 10, 2009
MIT research finds tissue match for surgical glues
By Mass High Tech staff
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MIT researchers have discovered the key to developing a surgical glue that can be tailored to the specific tissues, in order to cut down on surgical complications, heal wounds and lower health care costs. Effective surgical glue also allows doctors to avoid use of sutures or staples.
The research, outlined in the publication Advanced Materials, enables scientists to manipulate adhesive properties according to the bodily tissue. For example, in testing an adhesive on laboratory rats, researchers found the glue would work well on certain tissue, while failing in other rat tissue. Instead, they were able to break down the tissue parts and optimize the adhesive chemistry to match the tissue.
Natalie Artzi, a postdoctoral associate leading the research in principal investigator Elazer Edelman’s lab, said the work would take about three to five years more to create the “platform of adhesive materials.”
MIT-DuPont Alliance, the National Institutes of Health, and Philip Morris External Research Program supported the findings.
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