Internal adhesive "organ patches" will deliver drugs directly to the heart or liver.

Biocompatible, biodegradable adhesive patches will seal wounds, replace or augment sutures and staples, and evenpromote healing by delivering drugs or growth factors directly to an internal organ. For example, a heart attack patient might receive a flexible patch impregnated with growth factors that recruit native stem cells to speed the regeneration of ischemic tissue.

Physicians will have precise control over medicine dosage and release rates by selecting patches of specified porosities and degradation periods. The adhesive polymeric surfaces mimic the nanotopography of gecko feet, which easily attach to vertical surfaces.

These bioadhesives have already performed successfully on porcine intestine tissue in vitro and in rat abdominal sub fasciae in vivo.

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- Jeffrey M. Karp, Ph.D.
Member of Stemgent Scientific Advisory Board

For more information, see "A biodegradable and biocompatible gecko-inspired tissue adhesive" Mahdavi et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2008,105:2307-2312