The end of plasters and bandages? Revolutionary gel stops bleeding IMMEDIATELY and could be used on the battlefield to seal serious wounds
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Whether it's a cut in a kitchen, or a serious wound on the battlefield, the number one priority for any medic is to stop the bleeding.
And a new gel being developed in New York could save lives, because it can stop the flow of profuse bleeding within seconds.
Made from plant polymers, VetiGel works with the body's natural healing mechanisms to clot blood on contact.
Warning: Graphic content
VetiGel - a new plant-based haemophilic polymer (pictured) under development can stop the flow of profuse bleeding almost immediately. This could save the lives of people who would otherwise bleed to death
It's the brainchild of Joe Landolina, a bio-molecular chemical engineer and former student of the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, who set up a Brooklyn-based company called Suneris.
VetiGel uses a plant-based haemophilic polymer that grabs onto blood and 'snaps it back together to seal the wound'.
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To make the gel, cell walls are extracted from a plant polymer and used in a similar way to Lego Bricks. When the 'bricks' are applied to a wound they reassemble to form a clot.
The gel changes shape and colour when it interacts with the tissue, which at first surprised the engineer.
It has antimicrobial properties and, when used by experts in sterile environments, is a safe, clean way to heal a wound.
Warning: Graphic content: The gel has antimicrobial properties and used by experts in sterile environments is a safe, disinfecting way to heal a wound. This video shows the research behind the gel
To make the gel, cell walls are extracted from a plant polymer and used like Lego Bricks. When the 'bricks' are applied to a wound they reassemble to form a clot (illustrated). It changes shape and colour when it interacts with the tissue
'VetiGel is effective because it works in tandem with the body's natural healing process, in a new way,' Mr Landolina told Bloomberg in a video.
In dusty war zones, VetiGel will most likely be used as a temporary fix to help soldiers until they receive proper medical help.
'Doctors would then remove it and treat the wound,' Mr Landolina explained.
'Omar Ahmad, VP of Engineering at the Suneris, elaborated: 'Let's say there's a soldier who is shot on the battlefield and has three minutes to live. A leading competitor can stop a bleed in five to 10 minutes - but he's only got three.
'You apply this [VetiGel] and not only will the bleeding stop within 15 seconds, it will stay stopped thanks to its high clot strength.'
Such technology, Mr Landolina claims, could save lives and replace 80 per cent of the wound-care market such as plasters, antiseptic gels and bandages.
In dusty, dirty war zones, VetiGel will most likely be used as a temporary fix to help soldiers until they receive proper medical help. Here, soldiers carry a colleague who was shot in Iraq, for more conventional treatment
The company is working hard to get VetiGel to the point where it is an FDA-approved product for human use.
'Our goal is to get this in every ambulance, every soldier's kit bag and in every mum's purse,' he said, meaning that one day we could all do without plasters.
'This means the product has to be easy to use by anybody,' he added.
VetiGel is about to be used by vets. Mr Landolina told MailOnline last year: 'For humans there are similar products available, very expensive but similar, but for animals, there is nothing that coagulates blood quickly enough.
'I have spoken to hundreds of vets and heard how in situations where for example, a spleen is bleeding, they would rather take the spleen out than risk waiting for any of the current products to work quickly enough. So Veti-Gel would be very well received in this industry.'
Having performed clinical trials on lab rats, Mr Landolina said he is constantly amazed by how effective the gel is.
An experiment performed on a piece of pork liver that was hooked up to a blood bag to simulate an aggressive bleed caught experts' attention last year, because the VetiGel seals off the wound and stops the bleed in seconds.
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