Scientists have developed a smart bandage that can precisely control the dose and delivery schedule of the medication tailored for a specific type of wound, leading to faster healing. The bandage, developed by researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, consists of electrically conductive fibres coated in a gel. The gel can be individually loaded with infection-fighting antibiotics, tissue-regenerating growth factors, painkillers or other medications, researchers said.
A microcontroller no larger than a postage stamp, which could be triggered by a smartphone or other wireless device, sends small amounts of voltage through a chosen fibre. That voltage heats the fibre and its hydrogel, releasing whatever cargo it contains.A single bandage could accommodate multiple medications tailored to a specific…
