MIT Develops Bio-Coating That Stops Uncontrollable Bleeding in a Minute
- Posted on January 12, 2012 at 5:56pm by
Liz Klimas
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According to MIT, uncontrollable bleeding is the leading cause of death in the battlefield as soldiers are often away from adequate medical care. Using components that are found in our own blood already, a team of engineers at the university created a coating for bandages or sponges that helps stop bleeding within 60 seconds.
Paula Hammond led the research team from MIT's Institute for Soldier Technologies. (Photo: Dominick Reuter/MIT)
Evaluating the current state of methods to halt bleeding outside of hospitals, MIT found several flaws making them unsuitable for certain types of wounds or for use in the field by soldiers. MIT News states:
Traditional methods to halt bleeding, such as tourniquets, are not suitable for the neck and many other parts of the body. [...] Fibrin dressings and glues have a short shelf life and can cause an adverse immune response, and zeolite powders are difficult to apply under windy conditions and can cause severe burns. Another option is bandages made of chitosan, a derivative of the primary structural material of shellfish exoskeletons. Those bandages have had some success but can be difficult to mold to fit complex wounds.
Turning toward the success civilian hospitals have had with sponges soaked in liquid thrombin — a clotting protein found in blood — MIT’s Paula Hammond and her team with the Institute for Soldier Technologies set out to make a non-liquid version that would be easy use the the field by both soldiers or emergency response teams. MIT News reports that the team created a nanoscale biological coating using thrombin and tannic acid. The coating is used to create a film on, and even inside the material, of sponges and bandages. It’s the ability to deliver the coating to inside fibers that some in the medical field find exciting, according to MIT News:
“All of the existing hemostatic materials suffer from the same limitation, which is being able to deliver a dense enough package of hemostatic material to the bleeding site. That’s why this new material is exciting,” says [David] King, [a trauma surgeon] and an Army reservist who has served in Afghanistan but was not involved in this study.
Molecular structure of thrombin. (Image: Wikimedia via MIT)
To test the coating, MIT researchers applied coated sponges to wounds with pressure from a human thumb for 60 seconds. This pressure and short amount of time were successful at stopping bleeding. Comparably, the researchers found a non-thrombin coated sponge took 150 seconds for bleeding to stop and a gauze pad took longer than 12 minutes, which was the length allotted for each test, and did not stop bleeding.
Next up, Hammond is looking to combine the coating with an antibiotic. The team has applied for a patent for the thrombin nano-coating and believes that since the materials used in the coating are already FDA approved, it could help the process toward commercial development.
Another benefit of the sponges having the thrombin coating is that it allows for longer term storage, compared to liquid thrombin and other effective blood-clotting agents.
This research was published in the journal Advanced Materials.
[H/T Popular Science]
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Comments (86)
Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:19amNow, if only they could develope a material that can staunch the bleeding of the government debt in 60 seconds or less. THAT would be an achievement.
Report Post »jmiller_42
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:10pmThat material should be named Ron Paul
Report Post »Neesey
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:51amI think it was a powder form before and it was used to cauterize open wounds. Now, perhaps it stops the bleeding more effectively?
Report Post »SgtB
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 2:29pmI believe you are thinking of quick clot. Quick clot is Kaolin and is not based on any animal protein. It can also cause your blood to clot several centimeters into good tissue destroying it. Which is why we were told to NEVER us the quick clot supplied in our first aid kits unless it was on a limb and there were no way to apply a simple tourniquet.
Report Post »bets
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:18amRead the article this stuff is fantastic.
Report Post »momsense
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 5:39amWonderful news. Thanks be to God !
Report Post »materialsdave
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 2:43amIf you’re interested in learning more about the science behind the story, you can download the original Advanced Materials article from http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/adma.201103794 .
Dave Flanagan
Report Post »Editor, Advanced Materials
pavepaws
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 2:47pmThank you sir.
Report Post »dutchy
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 1:41amAwesome news, could be used for hemophiliacs also?
Report Post »rpa49
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 1:40amI think Baddoggy is getting the chitosin product that HEMCON produces mixed up with this MIT/DoD project. They are very similar and many veterans are familiar with the 4×4 inch bandages or the 3×28 inch rolls of chitosin material already in use in theater.
Report Post »While I acknowledge the need for scientific medical studies to explore and seek new breakthroughs, I have to wonder why the DoD and other government bodies have granted massive amounts of money to MIT to basically recreate what has already existed. HEMCON and a number of other companies have already done the initial (as early as 1999) and ongoing research. HEMCON’s product was even recognized by the FDA in 2008 to have anti-microbial properties.
I would like to know if relationships have soured between DoD and HEMCON or if there is some other political angle for DoD to be funding competition from a college towards that of a private business? Companies like HEMCON invest large amounts of money in R&D prior to bidding on any contracts with DoD only to have DoD fund other organizations in recreating the technology. I wonder if this is an end-around used to allow the government to own and control the technology already owned by private enterprise? This is one of the many reasons why copanies are leary about getting into bed with the government.
God bless the freedom that capitalism helps to create for all mankind.
4xeverything
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 6:13am@RPA49
Since not all writers always look at all comments, maybe you might think about forwarding this info on to Liz Klimas, the author of this article. I personally would like to here more about these correlations.
Report Post »Voice1percent
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:49pmRPA49
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 1:40am
I think Baddoggy is getting the chitosin product that HEMCON produces mixed up with this MIT/DoD project. They are very similar and many veterans are familiar with the 4×4 inch bandages or the 3×28 inch rolls of chitosin material already in use in theater.
While I acknowledge the need for scientific medical studies to explore and seek new breakthroughs, I have to wonder why the DoD and other government bodies have granted massive amounts of money to MIT to basically recreate what has already existed.
You might be right. My company has a proprietary technology I queried our supplier why they were in China trying to duplicate and undercut us. His response was there’s NAFTA and other laws for the “transfer” of technology worldwide. Sounded like a cop out just to grow his sales…but who knows?
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:50pmDidn’t I read about that in the book, “1001 uses for Marshmallows”?
Report Post »Miami
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 12:56amThis will save some lives especially in the battlefield. I remember seeing something like this in a movie a few years ago (Blade 3) Seriously this is a life saver.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 9:23amThat was a fictional expanding foam product. Ryan Reynolds’s character, Hannibal King, got a shot of it in a right shoulder wound. It’s Hollywood BS.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 12:19pmYes that was Hollywwood bs but here we have the real thing….
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 7:26pmI think it’s a great invention. I was just commenting on how much they looked like fake marshmallows. No offence meant and I hope none of us ever have to usr this invention.
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 9:54pmtoo bad we don’t need it, WE HAVE EVOLUTION.
You see, with EVOLUTION, we can evolve our OWN coagulants, because we NEED it, and Natural Selection will see to it that it is there. What we need is more soldiers being slaughtered quickly on the battlefield, and soon we will have a new race, a new species, who can clot quickly.
Come on scientists, sacrifice yourselves for science – evolve us to the NEXT LEVEL. Come on, if you believe your theory, PROVE IT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpeOD593lCc&feature=related
Report Post »MrObvious
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:53pmI’ve evolved enough to recognize the rantings of a yong dolt, when I read them.
This development is an solid medical improvement in the making.
Report Post »If you want to argue evolution, try a religious story, or at least an anthropological one.
Nemo Trax
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:28pmI used to believe in evolution. After I saw AbrahamYoung’s post, I am less convinced by 1 degree that it actually occurs in some cases.
Report Post »The citizen who cares
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:38pmSure sure. Evolution in technology! In order for micro-evolution to occur, people need to pass away and pass the favorable coagulant gene to the offspring. While this may take place, it doesn’t really help when a .50 cal round pierces the jugular artery in the neck. Let nature do it’s thing, but this isn’t an excuse to not innovate in order to save lives.
Report Post »Miami
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 1:13amDo you guys not get sarcasm…?
Did you watch the video disproving Darwin…?
Dr. David Berlinski is hands down one of the brightest minds of our time.
Report Post »rpa49
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 3:18amThere would be absolutely no need for this type of technology when treating someone who has received a GSW (gun shot wound) from a .50 cal projectile to the neck. There wouldn’t be a neck… heck, there wouldn’t be the upper half of the torso left to treat after getting hit from a .50 cal projectile!
Report Post »rpa49
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 3:33amAY, I get your point…lol! Based on your thought process, I remembered an old set of videos I loved watching with my kids called “Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Vol. 3 with Dr. Jobe Martin.” Each volume was a separate video about one-hour in length. I would recommend these videos to anyone who has questions or doubts about creationism versus evolution. They are perfect for home schooling or like I did, to watch with your kids after they come home from school one day telling you that they learned we evolved from monkeys over millions of years. Boy, did their teachers ever get thrown into the fire the following day when my kids had all sorts of questions about the validity of evolutionism.
Report Post »Check it out… the videos are on Netflix too!
TheJeffersonian
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 6:46pmYou know, if you want to criticize the theory of evolution, you should first try to understand it. Your characterization of evolution has so little to do with the actual scientific theory that it is rendered pointless for argumentation. You’ll have a lot more success persuading people to agree with you if you build stronger arguments; your current ones only betray your own misunderstanding of the issue at hand.
Report Post »Bobj_1960
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:52pmThis would be great for those taking anti-coagulants and blood-thinners.
Report Post »dealer@678
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 10:07pmI’m on Plavix and aspirin after 4 stents installed 2 months ago . I want some of that stuff
Report Post »Buddynoel
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:23pmCayenne Pepper does the same thing. Pack cayenne around a bleeding artery and it will stop the bleeding.
Report Post »Nemo Trax
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:29pmDealer, had a similar operation 3 years ago. Take care of yourself. It gets better.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 12:16am@Buddynoel
Report Post »Tried that once and it took 6 months for the Cajun accent side effect to go away… : )
Ramv36
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:32pmIf the price was low enough, and allergies weren’t a concern, this compound would be a great addition to clothing. Imagine it, you go hiking, you fall down a ravine and severely lacerate a limb, immense bleeding, but it’s ok, I’ll just apply pressure with my new MIT nano-bleedstop pants (manufactured by Columbia, LL Bean, or similar) and or shirt, and survive hours rather than minutes, hopefully long enough for SAR.
Report Post »Even better, apply this coating to what used to be known as BDUs.
ObserverOnTheHill
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:42pmyes, but I’m over 55 – will the death panels approve it for me if I needed it ?
Report Post »The Dark Side
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:17pmThis is fantastic. Way to go MIT.
This research will likely save many lives. I hope they get this pushed out to the troops quickly.
Some argue that our capitalist system is broken and/or should be replaced. This is an example of why they are wrong. Here, MIT saw a need and potential profit (likely in future research funding and selling the rights to a pharmaceutical company). Without capitalism, nothing would have happened after identifying the need.
Just my two bits worth from the Dark Side!!!
Report Post »Nick84
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:31pmFrom the Wikipedia entry on MIT:
“MIT was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1934 and remains a research university with a very high level of research activity;[30][136] research expenditures totaled $718.2 million in 2009.[13] The federal government was the largest source of sponsored research, with the Department of Health and Human Services granting $255.9 million, Department of Defense $97.5 million, Department of Energy $65.8 million, National Science Foundation $61.4 million, and NASA $27.4 million”
Looks like this wouldn’t have happened without the government spending money on universities. Isn’t that the “socialism” that people on here are always complaining about, rather than capitalism?
Report Post »Kaoscontrol
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:47pmI didn’t know MITT Romney had a science background, but this is his best invention yet!
Report Post »Ramv36
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:23pm@Nick84. No, govt funding of SUCCESSFUL university research programs is pure capitalism, as a higher amount of funding is directed to the Universities who actually produce breakthroughs that will result in profit.
Report Post »In your example, the socialist approach would be mandating that every University research program receive the same amount of funding regardless of result or failure in order to ensure funding equality and that everyone gets the same share. This is not a hard concept to grasp. Were a podunk community college to produce a highly useful breakthrough such as this, they would no doubt see a massive increase in funding, much as my University has when we patented and released our breakthrough laser-based non-invasive blood glucose/red cell count device (http://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2011/03/29/glucose/), which we then licensed to a local medical devices company, the profits from which will be reinvested into funding more breakthroughs. When funding chases success, it’s capitalism. When failure is rewarded for reasons of equality, it’s Socialism.
the58thstate
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:37pm@ramv36…nice smack down! my hats off too you sir.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 12:23am@the58thstate
Report Post »Ditto! Nice smack down indeed!
TheJeffersonian
Posted on January 18, 2012 at 6:50pm@Rav
That’s a rather narrow definition of socialism to use. I don’t think you could find an example of real-world socialism that requires all institutions in a field to be funded equally with no relation to their success. Government funding of research and development is indeed a socialist policy, regardless of whether or not programs that are successful are selected for further funding.
Report Post »ThePostman
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:15pmGee, these researchers are doing something useful for mankind instead of studying an imagined global climate change scenario – we must stop their funding immediately!
Report Post »shackero
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:57pmThis is great!!!!
Remember last year when some gamers solved the HIV protein puzzle—–The scientist couldn’t solve the problem over several years—–It took the gamers less than one week……….
I think a couple of students came up with a low-cost Wound-Vac that requires no electricity—-
Report Post »It just reminds us that most problems can be solved; especially when we bring the young folks into the mix…………They just need direction…………….
Wyatt's Torch
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:52pmWow! How did MIT Romney have time to do that, run for president and still be a mormon?
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:42pmWonderful development.
Report Post »Bonnieblue2A
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:49pmAbsolutely. If there is any good that comes from war it is the rapid advances made in emergency and rehabilitive medicine.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:59pmIt is also good for those injured in car crashes and serious industrial accidents. Well done, MIT!
Report Post »rpa49
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 2:34amThis type of technology already exists. Chitosin bandages have been used on the battlefield since at least 2003 for wounds which cannot be controlled via a tourniquet.
Report Post »The lessons learned from our involvement in Somalia when two Blackhawk helicopters went down and the subsiquent battle between Army Rangers and special forces against muslim warlords created the momentum to produce a bandage with instant hemorrhagic control qualities. That’s why we had the technology at the start of our global war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The likelihood of needing such a specialized bandage in the civilian sector when something as simple as direct pressure is so readily available means we will most likely not see chitosin in use anytime soon. We are blessed with a rapid notification system (911, 911-E), rapid local response system (fire departments, ambulance services, air evac, search and rescue, etc…) and an abundance of receiving hospital facilities. The K.I.S.S. method definately applies in the civilian pre-hospital environment when it comes to treating massive bleeding.
tharpdevenport
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:38pmSo, in 60 seconds Ron Paul’s mouth could be sealed shut?
daveposh
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:35pmOops. I thought from the title, “MIT Develops Bio-Coating That Stops Uncontrollable Bleeding in a Minute”, that this was about Mit Romney. ;-)
Report Post »Kaoscontrol
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:49pmWell, he is from Massachusetts, so I guess he had some part in this…
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:16pmWow that’s great. Now MIT can sell it to the government that the government will buy with tax-dollars, that they have to somehow get from people who make something useful that doesn’t involve killing people.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:24pmYeah because most of the companies involved in the killing-people industry pay taxes back to the government that came from taxes to begin with payed from companies that got money from the government that was borrowed so they can buy better electronics to kill people better. What a country!
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:26pmIn other words it‘s all just used and used and used over again government toilet paper that isn’t worth anything because so little companies make anything truly useful.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:28pmIf corporations don’t take something from the ground to turn it into something, then it’s practically useless.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:35pmOh wait: food comes from the ground? Yeah but a good portion of corn is used for Ethanol and they receive government subsidies. And we are even importing wheat, and farmers can’t use their own seed without buying it from a central point at a controlling company. Yeah the system is pretty much dead.
Report Post »NES
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:36pmActually, it is the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN), not the Institute for Soldier Technologies as stated in the article. Also, this is a joint enterprise between MIT and the US Army, so it’s already funded and owned by the federal government through the DoD. (I was part of ISN while working on my PhD at MIT.)
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:38pmAnd that all happened because big industry slowly snaked farmers out of their land (and stripped the mineral rights from it and sold it back to some farmers….“Oh that sounds like what the Soviets did while we were pointing the fingers at them”) to begin industrial farming.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:47pmBut you folks just go ahead and keep living in your illusion, because the system is going to catastrophically collapse.
Report Post »Melvin Spittle
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 7:22pmWow! You enjoying the conversation with yourself?
Report Post »Ramv36
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:26pmDoes Eliasim ever actually address anyone in particular, or does he just comment to himself and then answer his comment thinking he is someone else? I ask because I see him exchanging comments with himself, sometimes arguing with himself, on like 5 other stories on this site.
I worry.
Report Post »Nemo Trax
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 11:39pmDo you mean ARPA (Government program) that created the internet?
Report Post »IMPEACHBHO
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:13pmCan we put it on our country?
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:19pmThat was my first thought, a thick coating on every liberal, progressive, socialist and Neocon.
Report Post »mccracken
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:20pmSaw that one coming a mile down the road.
Report Post »Bonnieblue2A
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:46pmPaint the FED with it!
Report Post »Your Name Here
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 5:36amIn the matter of our bleeding economy I think a tourniquet around the neck would work better.
Report Post »If that isn’t acceptable use my own invention: Fistocaine.
Apply liberally about the head, neck, and shoulders. Contraindications are contusions, bruises, and possible death.
sndrman
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:12pmcool it can also be used in area’s where there are alot of shootings and give people a better chance to survive.could also be good for people who have accidents while hiking…..shark bites.work places where machines can do serious damage
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:12pmNow can they stop the bleeding of our tax dollars ???
Report Post »flatbroke
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:06pmawesome saving lives!
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 5:59pmThis is an old story…
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 6:10pmHeck it is older than I thought…It already has FDA approval! Has to be at least 7 years old…
Report Post »Ramv36
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:28pmSeeing as it’s that old, you have to wonder where the MSM has been on this. Thanks again Blaze for filling in the holes corporate news refuses to fill.
Report Post »Ramv36
Posted on January 12, 2012 at 8:35pmRead this (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/stop-bleeding-0110.html) from the horse’s mouth. This development wasn’t even announced by MIT until Dec 27 of 2011.
Care to cite your conflicting source?
Report Post »rpa49
Posted on January 13, 2012 at 3:11amChitosin technology has been used in combat since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003. Hemcon Medical Technologies received FDA approval in a record 48 hours in 2003 and subsiquently delivered chitosin bandages to our troops in theater with great success in saving lives.
Report Post »Maybe this product is what Baddoggy is referring to?