Clinicians presently find it hard to predict how scars will form after surgery or after a burn wound, without using invasive testing.
The research team used new nanoparticles in animals and human skin samples to demonstrate the potential to rapidly and accurately predict whether a wound is likely to result in excessive scarring as occurs in skin contractures and keloids.
If required, doctors can then take conventional preventive steps to lessen scar formation, such as using silicon sheets to ensure a wound is flat and moist.
In developed countries alone, around 100 million patients will develop scars each year, arising from 80 million elective and trauma surgery operations. In Singapore, an estimated 400,000 people (1 in 12 people going through procedures) develop scars each year because of surgery.
Excessive scarring can greatly affect a patient’s quality of life, both psychologically and physically, as the scars can inhibit activity and movement, and can be painful when strained.
The new method was formulated by a team led by Assistant Professor Xu Chenjie from NTU’s School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, nanoscience expert Professor Chad A Mirkin from Northwestern University, United States, and Dr Amy S Paller, Chair of Dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Image Credit: NTU Singapore
News This Week
What Are Nanobots? What Are Their Future Implications?
Inventors and scientists have been continuously working towards reducing the size of technological components. Room-sized computers to laptops that are slimmer than a pane of glass? It’s done. Huge bulky telephones to smartphones that [...]
Robotics These Nano-Robots Are Super-Tiny And Can Walk Inside Your Body
You have witnessed a variety of nano-devices that were designed for tasks including delivering medicines within the body. All of them used to move in a variety of ways. However, the latest nano-device is [...]
Nanosponges sop up toxins and help repair tissues
To take his fledgling lab to new heights, Liangfang Zhang hatched a plan that he considered brilliant in its simplicity. It involved procedures that many of his peers found a little out there. But [...]
U of T Engineering Science student investigating the use of nanomedicine in cancer research
Netra Rajesh is an undergraduate Engineering Science student specializing in Biomedical Systems Engineering. She is currently on her Professional Experience Year (PEY) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where her research lies at the [...]
40% of A.I. start-ups in Europe have almost nothing to do with A.I.
Nearly half of the companies in Europe that call themselves AI start-ups don't in fact use artificial intelligence, a new report found. The research, published Tuesday by London-based venture capital firm MMC Ventures, found [...]
New quantum sensor could improve cancer treatment
A new quantum sensor developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) has proven it can outperform existing technologies and promises significant advancements in long-range 3D imaging and monitoring [...]
Researchers look toward nature to beat cancer
Every year, more than 18 million people around the world are told, "You have cancer." In the U.S., nearly half of all men and more than one-third of women will develop some kind of [...]
Nanotech Makes it Possible for Mice to See In Infrared
Summary: Researchers use nanotech to enhance vision in mice, enabling them to see infrared light as well as visible light. Source: Cell Press. Mice with vision enhanced by nanotechnology were able to see infrared [...]
Leave A Comment