Sticky plaster for punctured lungs stretches as they expand

A biodegradable sticky gel patch containing the pigment from turmeric can cover punctures in rodent lungs and deliver regenerative molecules to help heal wounds

By Carissa Wong

A sticky gel plaster containing the yellow pigment in turmeric can patch up punctured lungs in rats. It also seems to help wounds heal when loaded up with sacs of biological molecules.

Biodegradable gel patches often need to be glued to the body parts they are intended to help repair and can struggle to follow the movement of organs like lungs as they inflate and deflate.

Now, Juliane Nguyen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill …