As biotechnology improves, we are gaining new surgical capabilities, allowing us to move towards less invasive procedures which have obvious advantages. “However, sealing and repairing tissues is still a major challenge for minimally invasive surgery,” says Sarah Wu, a graduate student at MIT mechanical engineering. This is because sealing and repairing tissues often involves many sensors, haptic feedback, and tools. To combat this Sarah Wu’s team developed a sort of fabric that is engineered to function as a tissue-sealing patch. One side contains sticky microparticles infused with a liquid that prevents contamination with bodily fluids and the other contains a non-sticky layer that limits contamination with bacteria and the like. This creates a nice, foldable sheet which you can do origami with to your heart’s content. The key is to imagine this fabric as a sheet of paper. For instance, one fold pattern allows it to integrate nicely with a laparoscopic stapler to form a sort of surgical tape, or a balloon catheter for sealing things with cylindrical symmetry. Appealingly, this patch is biodegradable even in the body.
