VetiGel: Plant-Based Polymer Gel Could Save Lives, Stops Severe Bleeding In Seconds [Video]
A new product called VetiGel, brought to us from a New York based start-up company, could prove to be a life saver. VetiGel, which is said to be able to stop even severe bleeding in serious wounds in a maximum of 20 seconds, has already been used by veterinarians on animals. It is a plant-based polymer that is similar to existing gels on the market. Those existing gels can take up to ten minutes to stop severe bleeding, though, and VetiGel takes only seconds, according to the product’s inventors.
VetiGel works on skin and organ tissue. The plant-based polymers in VetiGel bind with blood and tissue components and duplicate their structure.
“By reassembling onto a wound site, VETIGEL mimics the body’s extracellular matrix and accelerates the production of fibrin, which enables the body to clot rapidly,” according to the VetiGel website.
“The gel uses natural polymers to coordinate with the body’s natural cell clotting and accelerate hemostasis,” an RT author explained of how VetiGel works. VetiGel is applied directly to the source of bleeding and no manual pressure needs to be applied during the treatment.
VetiGel co-founder Joe Landolina hopes that his invention will soon be used by the U.S. military and EMS personnel to treat injuries as they happen and prevent wounds from bleeding out before further medical treatment can be administered to wounded individuals.
Our CEO, @JLandolina, takes the stage at @TEDTalks to talk #Tech #engineering & #innovation http://t.co/ps4YOJTCKl pic.twitter.com/OEFdmekTs2
— Suneris, Inc. (@SunerisTech) November 20, 2014
Landolina began developing the life-saving product as a freshman at New York University, according to Bloomberg News. Now, a graduate from NYU’s Polytechnic Institute, Landolina is the founder and CEO of Suneris.
“Naiveté really helped us move forward,” Landolina said, according to a USA Today article from last year when he expressed his hopes that FDA approval would one day be achieved. “As a freshman, if I knew how hard the process would be I don’t think I would’ve stuck through it. Not knowing what would happen next helped us push through it.”
“I was always interested in science and my grandfather owned a winery, so from a really young age I learned how to work in a chemistry lab and had a love for chemistry,” Joe told IBTimes UK during an interview about VetiGel, now that his invention has been used by veterinarians.
Landolina said that the great thing about VetiGel is that during medical emergencies, first responders could simply apply VetiGel from an applicator that was all ready to go. With no extra preparation, the emergency personnel could stop even severe bleeding in just seconds with VetiGel.
[Photo via Suneris.co]
