URI_Research_Magazine_2009-2010_Melissa-McCarthy

Enhancing Economic Development in Rhode Island

Textile Science Wraps It Up for Wounded Soldiers, Police & Firefighters

University of Rhode Island Textiles Professor Martin Bide is an internationally renowned textile chemist who has played a key role in inventing a new “bioactive” wound dressing surface. It could revolutionize wound dressing for soldiers, police officers, firefighters and others who suffer a traumatic wound in the line of duty. “We have developed a novel, lightweight, bioactive compression wound dressing that provides durable infection-resistance and has the ability to

use a textile dyeing process to enhance the impact of antibiotics in fighting infection in artificial arteries. Bide says, “We have a multi-use textile with a multifaceted surface. We found a successful way to attach chemical groups without degrading the polyester.” Bide and Phaneuf now hold patents on this and several other inventions. The science behind their cutting-edge wound dressing is multidisciplinary, combining the unique elements of textile science and biochemistry. To construct the bioactive bandage, a textile polyester material with stretch properties is chemically modified so that it provides an anchor for protein attachment. Next, a broad-spectrum antibiotic is introduced into the material using textile dyeing technology. Finally, the biologically-active agent, thrombin, an important enzyme in the blood clotting process, is attached to the ‘anchors.’ “The thrombin kicks off the body’s clotting mechanism, and while that is working, the antibiotic is moving into the wound to prevent infection,” Phaneuf says. Incorporated into a single device, this bioactive bandage provides an innovative wound dressing that prevents uncontrolled bleeding by contracting the tissues or blood vessels while the thrombin promotes the rapid clotting of blood. Their invention has laid the foundation for other applications as well. For example, other bioactive agents could be added to the bandage to address other treatment issues, thus making the discovery more valuable and useful to a broader range of the population. The revolutionary product is easy to apply and may be used on the battlefield by medics to treat injuries occurring during armed conflict. The medics can simply take this bioactive bandage out of a package and apply

control bleeding,” Bide says. “It is a living bandage that fights infection and stops bleeding.” This “bioactive bandage” is one of the results of a 20-year collaboration between Bide and Matthew Phaneuf, who is now president and chief technology officer of the Massachusetts biomedical firm, BioSurfaces, Inc. It began when Phaneuf was doing research on artificial arteries in the vascular surgery research unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. His wife, a former student of Bide’s, thought Bide might be able to help Phaneuf with a problem he was having in his research. The two partnered and eventually found a way to

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