Healing

Tendon injuries are painful and don’t always heal properly. Researchers at the Terasaki Institute have now shown that silk scaffolds loaded with stem cells can help tendons regenerate more effectively.

For some time now, it's been known that the application of electricity can help heal wounds. The experimental new ePatch bandage takes that approach, plus it boosts the healing process by killing bacteria.

For some time now, blueberries have been claimed to slow the progression of memory loss. A new study now suggests that compounds found in the berries may also help heal chronic wounds such as diabetes-related skin pressure ulcers.

Complex bone fractures can be hard to treat, sometimes requiring the injured bone to be replaced with bone harvested from elsewhere in the body. Thanks to a new material, though, bone-building micro-robots may someday provide an alternative.

By stimulating cells to reproduce, electricity has already been shown to help heal soft tissue injuries. Now, an electricity-producing implantable material likewise appears to boost the regrowth of cartilage in compromised joints.

Although silver is highly effective at killing bacteria, it can also be toxic to humans in large amounts. That's where a new wound dressing is intended to come in, as it only releases its silver payload when infections are present.

Chronic wounds such as skin ulcers can be difficult to treat, partially because of antibiotic-resistant "biofilms" that form over the affected tissue. A new type of microneedle patch, however, has been shown to deliver medication through such films.

Ceramic materials are strong and can stand up to heat very well, but they’re notoriously fragile. Now, researchers at Texas A&M have uncovered a previously unknown self-healing mechanism in a certain type of ceramic, which works at room temperature.

A new study has explored the potential of piezoelectric devices, which turn motion into electricity, to treat damaged tendons and found they can act as a "switch" to turn on highly targeted regenerative processes.

Diabetic skin ulcers often take a long time to heal, sometimes even leading to complications that result in amputation. A new hydrogel is designed to help keep that from happening, by delivering oxygen directly to such wounds.

If you're trying to make a wound dressing that will be well-tolerated by the human body, you may be best off using human-derived materials. That's the approach that German researchers have taken, creating a tropoelastin-based bandage.

When it comes to closing incisions or other wounds in the digestive tract, sutures alone aren't enough to keep fluids or food waste from leaking out into the abdomen. A new hydrogel patch is designed to help, by thoroughly sealing such injuries up.