Nanofibre manufacturing method helps to heal wounds quicker

Developed by researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the two nanofibre dressings use naturally-occurring proteins in plants and animals to promote healing and regrow tissue. The breakthroughs are described in separate papers.

"Our fibre manufacturing system was developed specifically for the purpose of developing therapeutics for the wounds of war," said Kit Parker, the Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics at SEAS and senior author of the research. "As a soldier in Afghanistan, I witnessed horrible wounds and, at times, the healing process for those wounds was a horror unto itself. This research is a years-long effort by many people on my team to help with these problems."

The most recent paper, published in Biomaterials, describes a wound dressing inspired by foetal tissue.

In the late 1970s, when scientists first started studying the wound healing process early in development, they discovered that wounds incurred before the third trimester left no scars. This opened a range of possibilities for regenerative medicine but researchers have struggled to replicate those properties of foetal skin.