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Exploration of enzyme-polymer interactions is a crucial first step toward the development of next-gen degradable ... - EurekAlert


Imagine you’re deep in the backcountry on a hiking trip, and you fall and rip a deep gash in your lower leg. You’re a two-day walk away from proper treatment. After you stop the bleeding, your concern becomes keeping the wound clean. Now, imagine you had just the thing in your first aid kit—a spray-on bandage embedded with a mild painkiller and a disinfectant. A bandage meant to deliver relief, and degrade within 48 hours, giving you time to make it to the hospital. That’s one reality that Whitney Blocher McTigue, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in Lehigh University’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science, is working toward. She recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the dynamics of how enzymes interact with polymer complexes and cause them to degrade.

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