Human skin is a well-knit fabric of collagen fibers whose structure gives the organ its strength and flexibility. But cut more than skin-deep, the injured flesh mends itself with scar tissue, a grow-quick layer that's stiff and fragile. Now a British biotech firm is improving on the body's Bondo: Electrosols' spray-on mist coats a wound with biodegradable polymer fibers that normal skin cells adhere to (shown here at 1,000 X magnification). The sprayer uses an electrical field to distribute the fibers in the cross-weave of healthy tissue, laying a pattern for new skin to follow.
Electrosols (www.electrosols.com) was founded in 1992 by Ron Coffee, a Fellow in clinical biochemistry and engineering sciences at Oxford who's spent 25 years researching the use of electric fields to manipulate matter. A handful of medical applications are moving out of the Electrosols lab and into preclinical trials, and the miracle-grow skin should be available within three years.
ELECTRIC WORD
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