Group 076-05: Therapeutic Hydrogels for Biomedical Purposes

Week 1: This week we began literary research on the applications of hydrogels in medicine. So far we have found that they are a popular item in targeted drug delivery and have the potential to revolutionize the way certain diseases are treated. Such applications include delivery of therapeutic compounds to target tissues, use as a medium to regrow damaged tissues and implant them back into the body, and promote the healing of certain tissues. Our team has chosen to focus on applying our hydrogel to help heal patients who suffer from severe burns because they are usually treated via skin graphs, but these have the potential to cause rejection. Our hydrogel solution will be designed to help the patient's own tissues heal themselves by releasing a constant, controlled amount of growth factors during the recovery process. Once completed, this new innovation could aid in the recovery of thousands of future burn victims and reduce the risk of rejection from common skin graphs.