Starch technique could lead to dissolvable bandages

The process developed at Penn State University spins starch into fine strands that could be combined into biodegradable medical dressings that would not need to be removed from wounds — a process that can cause pain and discomfort to the patient.

‘Starch is easily biodegradable, so bandages made from it would, over time, be absorbed by the body. So, you wouldn’t have to remove them,’ said Lingyan Kong, a food science graduate student and one of the researchers behind the technique. ‘Starch is the most abundant and also the least expensive of all natural polymers.’

Kong used a solvent to dissolve the starch into a fluid that can then be spun into long strands or fibres and combined to make cheap, biodegradable toilet paper, napkins and other paper products.

The researchers claim that once the process is scaled to industrial size, companies could make bandages and other medical dressings using starch fibres that would degrade into glucose, a substance the body safely absorbs.