hydrogel tagged posts

Over-the-counter pain relievers, physical therapy, steroid injections—some people have tried it all and are still dealing with knee pain.

Often knee pain comes from the progressive wear and tear of cartilage known as osteoarthritis, which affects nearly one in six adults—867 million people—worldwide. For those who want to avoid replacing the entire knee joint, there may soon be another option that could help patients get back on their feet fast, pain-free, and stay that way.

Writing in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, a Duke University-led team says they have created the first gel-based cartilage s...

Researchers have developed a jelly-like material that can withstand the equivalent of an elephant standing on it, and completely recover to its original shape, even though it’s 80% water.

The soft-yet-strong material, developed by a team at the University of Cambridge, looks and feels like a squishy jelly, but acts like an ultra-hard, shatterproof glass when compressed, despite its high water content.

The non-water portion of the material is a network of polymers held together by reversible on/off interactions that control the material’s mechanical properties. This is the first time that such significant resistance to compression has been incorporated into a soft material.

The ‘super jelly’ could be used for a wide range of potential applications, including soft robotics,...

In a new study, published online in the journal American Chemical Society (ACS) Applied Polymer Materials, scientists at Texas A&M University reported they have designed a hydrogel membrane that may be used to house optical glucose sensing materials, toward building a biosensor for monitoring sugar levels in diabetics.

By incorporating dangling, comb-type molecular chains within a type of hydrogel called poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) or poly NIPAAm for short, they showed that the membrane could prevent leakage of small-sized molecules, like the ones for glucose-sensing, while still allowing glucose to freely diffuse in and out.

When ready for clinical use, the researchers s...

Researchers have developed a potential new treatment for the eye disease glaucoma that could replace daily eye drops and surgery with a twice-a-year injection to control the buildup of pressure in the eye. The researchers envision the injection being done as an office procedure that could be part of regular patient visits.

The possible treatment, which could become the first non-drug, non-surgical, long-acting therapy for glaucoma, uses the injection of a natural and biodegradable material to create a viscous hydrogel — a wa...