SZ scientists redefining burn care

Researchers from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai have created a wound dressing made from bacterial cellulose (BC) — a natural, breathable, and skin-friendly material.

These active dressings — designed to tackle bleeding during severe burn treatments — are enhanced with thrombin, an enzyme that occurs naturally in the body and helps blood clot quickly. 

Application of T-BC dressing in wound therapy.  Photo courtesy of SIAT

Normally, thrombin washes away too quickly, so the scientists cleverly attached it using a “biological glue tag” called a cellulose-binding domain. By simply dipping the BC material into this special solution, they produced a thrombin-anchored BC dressing (T-BC) that holds the enzyme in place.

A sample of the thrombin-anchored bacterial cellulose (T-BC) wound dressing developed by researchers at SIAT and Ruijin Hospital

Published in the journal Advanced Materials at the end of last month, their results show that the T-BC dressing stops bleeding in less than 60 seconds, is fully safe for human skin, and helps the body start to heal itself.

This breakthrough biomaterial is quickly moving into hospitals, offering new hope for faster and safer burn care.

Advanced Materials is a top scientific journal known for showcasing discoveries that push forward technology in medicine, energy, electronics, and more.