Antimicrobial and Hemostatic Wound Dressings

Hemorrhage, infection, and infection-induced sepsis are leading causes of death after trauma on the battlefield and in the civilian community. Both problems are being exacerbated by the increasing frequency of rapid deployment and intense conflict followed by delayed troop evacuation times. Most current efforts to develop advanced wound dressings have focused either on infection or hemorrhage, but not both, and have generally resulted in complicated and expensive solutions. Luna Innovations proposes to develop low-cost antimicrobial and hemostatic wound dressings via topical treatment of conventional textile-based wound dressing materials in a project that combines technologies from textile science, polymer science, biomaterials science, and biochemistry. A naturally occurring and abundant polymeric compound that is biodegradable and possesses both antimicrobial and hemostatic properties will be covalently bound to and/or crosslinked within the woven textile structure of current wound dressing materials on a molecular level. The resulting material will combine the look and feel of current dressings with an enhanced ability to stave off infection and stop blood loss by promoting coagulation.