Wonder Gel Instantly Closes and Stops Profusely Bleeding Wounds

Scientists have long been on the hunt for a compound that can quickly clot and close open wounds to stop bleeding, stave off infection and begin the healing process.

We've previously reported on MIT "biocoating" that researchers hope will stop bleeding soldiers in the field in under a minute. Then there's "Veti-Gel," a synthetic substance that helps hold cells together and triggers clotting.

Veti-Gel has been in development for the last few years by students at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly), their startup Suneris and Englewood Hospital in New Jersey. The gel, NYU-Poly student Joe Landolina told Tech News Daily in a recent article, "tells the body, 'OK, stop the bleeding'[...]." He went on to say that it helps begin the healing process as well.

The gel goes into the wound and then a protective coating is sprayed on top as illustrated in this image. (Image: Suneris)

Here's more about how the technology works:

Veti-Gel (also sometimes called Medi-Gel) is a synthetic form of the extracellular matrix, or ECM, the substance that forms a kind of scaffolding in the body that holds cells together and also triggers the clotting process if there is an injury. In tests on rats, Landolina was able to close up a slice into the liver and a puncture of the carotid artery. (He plans to publish the results in about two months.)

[...]

Plants naturally produce a material similar to the human extracellular matrix, but Landolina improves the process by using genetically modified plants to create Veti-Gel. Other wound treatments, such as collagen, come from animals, he said. And some rival treatments require refrigeration. Veti-Gel can be kept in packets or tubes at any temperature from 33 degrees to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree to 32 degrees Celsius).

Landolina co-founded Suneris centered around the gel technology. On the company's website, the gel is described as one that "looks like, feels like and acts like skin."

The Veti-Gel, which has also been called Medi-Gel, creators recently released a video showing how it works. The test was conducted on a bloody piece of pork, which according to Tech News Daily is less gruesome than some of the tests they have conducted on mice.

Watch the test (Note: the footage has a significant amount of blood as it is being pumped into the meat to create a steady stream for demonstration purposes):

Landolina also said the gel might have application for burn victims. Similar to a product popularized in a scene from "The Hunger Games" that instantly soothed and quickly healed burns, a friend of Landolina found Veti-Gel seemed to have similar results.

In 2011, Landolina and fellow researcher Kenny Mai were first place winners as freshmen in the Time Warner Cable Inno/Vention Competition for the gel.

Landolina has a patent pending for Veti-Gel and is beginning the process of having it approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Tech News Daily wrote. With other clotting agents currently on the market, Landolina is also conducting tests to see how Veti-Gel compares.

Read more details about Veti-Gel in Tech News Daily's full article here.

Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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Related:

• MIT Develops Bio-Coating That Stops Uncontrollable Bleeding in a Minute
• Vital Check: Put on the Patch
• 'Tooth Tattoo' Could Sense and Tell Doctors You're Sick Wirelessly

(H/T: Technabob)