New bandage senses temperature, delivers medicine

New York: Engineers have designed a sticking bandage that releases medicine in response to changes in skin temperature.

Designed by Xuanhe Zhao, associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's department of mechanical engineering, the hydrogel is a rubbery material, mostly composed of water, designed to bond strongly to surfaces such as gold, titanium, aluminum, silicon, glass, and ceramic.

The sticky, stretchy, gel-like band can incorporate temperature sensors, LED lights and other electronics, as well as tiny drug-delivering reservoirs and channels.

The "smart wound dressing" of the device releases medicine in response to changes in skin temperature and can be designed to light up if, say, medicine is running low. When the dressing is applied to a highly flexible area, such as the elbow or knee, it stretches with the body, keeping the embedded electronics functional and intact.