Temple University engineers have invented a soy-based material to create natural bandages that can be cheaply produced and help skin heal better from wounds and burns that usually result in scarring, writes Nicole Leonard for WHYY.

Following more than a decade of research and experimentation, Philadelphia scientists are seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start large-scale manufacturing of the product and targeted human clinical trials.

“A scar is not going to be made of the right cells that make up a healthy skin,” said Temple University bioengineer Jonathan Arye Gerstenhaber. “Our goal is to teach your body to heal itself, recover the natural healing process that somehow stalled due to this injury.”

Healthy skin contains many components that contribute to hydration, elasticity, temperature regulation, and more. Some of those components, like sweat glands, hair follicles, and collagen, can become severely damaged with serious wounds or burns.

“There is a difference between just healing and regeneration, where we entice the body to contribute to the healing process, to regenerate the skin to do these things again,” said Peter I. Lelkes, Laura H. Carnell professor and founding chair of the Department of Bioengineering at Temple University.

Read more about soy-based bandages invented at Temple University in WHYY.

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