Project description
Smart, glue-less adhesives for medical use
Medical-grade adhesives and wound dressings are widely used nowadays. However, adhesives used in medical devices are synthetic and often cause dermatitis or even injuries when they are peeled off. The EU-funded Bio2Skin project aims to develop products that are healthy and safe for human skin. They will also protect skin against medical adhesive-related skin injury (MARSI). It will be based on novel revolutionary materials such as the glue-less, highly biocompatible, chemically modified polymers that do not damage the skin and offer fine adhesion properties. First tests of the product are very promising for the medical adhesive market.
Objective
Bio2Skin is a revolutionary new generation of medical-grade adhesives with a wide range of uses in the application of medical devices and wound dressings. This disruptive and unique adhesive will provide a welcome alternative to the current glues used in the application of devices and dressings to the skin which tend to provoke severe skin problems.
Currently available adhesives are viscous materials made of synthetic chemicals that fill the skin irregularities, to augment the contact area. When peeled off, they provoke dermatitis, which is caused by the removal of a large amount of epidermis cells. Bio2Skin allows the development of a line of products that can provide effective protection against Medical Adhesive-Related Skin Injury (MARSI).
Bio2Skin is based on our unique research on glue-less naturally occurring chemicals results in adhesion to surfaces materially different. Our novel material results from the combination of highly biocompatible chemically-modified polymers that display excellent adhesion properties equivalent or better to current chemical glue-based adhesives.
As our product is based with nature in mind, Bio2Skin binds to the natural features of skin offering good adhesion properties without damaging the skin either during use or upon removal, reducing or even eliminating the skin damage caused by the continuous use of current adhesives.
Small-scale pre-clinical tests at the Centre for Nanotechnology and Smart Materials (CeNTI Portugal) so far have been extremely promising, and we believe we can make a significant impact in the medical adhesive market which is projected to reach €10 billion by 2019.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
4700 312 BRAGA
Portugal
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.