DermaMend: A Wound Healing Patch from Adipose Tissue-Derived ECM

Brown, Olivia; Stevenson, Catherine; Gowaski, Erin

Student Work

DermaMend: A Wound Healing Patch from Adipose Tissue-Derived ECM

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Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFUs) are a persistent and major issue faced by patients with Type I and Type II diabetes. In America, roughly 1 in 10 Americans suffer from diabetes, with 15-20% developing a foot ulcer in their lifetime. These ulcers are the leading cause of hospitalization amongst this patient population. DFUs are extremely challenging to treat given the hostile environment of the wound and its inability to undergo normal, acute wound healing, as well as other diabetic complications including low blood sugar and peripheral neuropathy. There is a lack of accessible and inexpensive options to treat these chronic wounds, often resulting in costly surgical procedures or amputations. Thus, this project aimed to develop an off-the-shelf, more affordable, and effective product that assisted the wound healing process to heal and close DFUs and other major lesions. To achieve this, the team worked to decellularize adipose tissue and in turn, utilize the extracellular matrix (ECM) of the tissue with additive growth factors to generate a solution that bolstered and supported proliferation of cells at the wound site. The working prototype is a flexible and customizable bandage-like patch to deliver ECM components and supporting reagents onto a chronic wound site.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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