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FAQ

Q: Why did you choose burns as the injury you will treat with this design?

A: Our group chose to do this project with the goal of treating burns because we think it is a very useful application of hydrogel, but with a lot of improvements to be made. We also think a hydrogel design such as ours, if marketed to first- and second-degree burn victims, could help the healing process and prevent infections by soothing and protecting the wound. You can find more information about our project goal under the Project Overview page.


Q: How did you determine the concentrations of calcium chloride you will use to make each hydrogel layer?

A: After watching this video, the group decided to experiment on our own with the hydrogel using the concentrations shown in the video. Then, we tried again, varying only the concentration of calcium chloride. This allowed us to see what concentrations would yield more viscous hydrogel for use in our thick layer, and what concentrations would yield a less viscous hydrogel for use in our thin layer. You can find more information about our experimental design, including concentrations and more, under the Week Five Progress update.

Q: What signal are you using to measure the hydrogel's release rates?


A: The signal we are using is a fluorescently-labeled bovine serum albumin (FITC-BSA). You can find more information on how we plan to test our hydrogel under the Week Five Progress update.

Q: Why is it important that your prototype therapeutic has a high molecular weight?


A: The molecular weight of our prototype therapeutic must have a high molecular weight, because this is related to the rate at which it will seep through the pores of the hydrogel. The higher the molecular weight, the more control we will be able to have over the release of the therapeutic. You can find more information about choosing our prototype therapeutic under the Week Four Progress update.

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Week Five Progress

During week five, more research was done and the group was able to decide on the exact concentrations of calcium chloride to use in making each hydrogel layer as well as in the beads. The higher the concentration of calcium chloride, the more dense the hydrogel layer will be. Thus, for the thin, low-density layer, as well as for the low-density beads, a 5% calcium chloride solution will be used. For the thick, high-density layer, a 7% calcium chloride solution will be used. Refer to Figure 1, below, for a visual of the design. Figure 1: Preliminary Diagram of the Hydrogel Wound Dressing   Another task that was completed this week was additional planning for the testing phase. Once the hydrogel has been constructed, samples of it will be placed into cuvettes, and fluorescently-labeled bovine serum albumin (FITC-BSA) will be injected into the cuvettes, one at a time, in intervals of four hours. This will occur over a period of two days, and at the end of the two day...
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Week Four Progress

Our focus this week was finding the correct placebo for our design. Prior to this week, we had expected to use zinc oxide in our module but we realized it did not have a high enough molecular weight. Therefore, the zinc oxide would disperse from the hydrogel beads too rapidly. After some research and guidance from our professor, we decided to use Fluorescein Isothiocyanate-Bovine Serum Album (FITC-BSA), which is a hydrophilic protein with a molecular weight of 66 kg/mol [1]. FITC-BSA will also be our signal source for measuring the rate of dispersion from the beads. As seen in Figure 1, FITC-BSA is vivid in color and allows the protein's diffusion throughout the hydrogel to be observed easily. We've decided to initially use 0.25 mg/ml as the concentration of FITC-BSA within our design. Figure 1: FITC-BSA (green) seen in samples of HeLa cells [2] References: [1]  Bovine Serum Albumin Conjugates Product Information , 1st ed. Molecular Probes, 2005. [2] S. Sarker, R....
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Week Six Progress

Progress on the hydrogel adhesive prototype has entailed the finalization of the proposed design. As such, it was determined that differentiation of hydrogel density must be attained by varying the concentration of sodium alginate utilized within the individual hydrogel layers. The initial design had called for the variation of calcium chloride concentration, though it was concluded that the variation in calcium chloride density will not contribute appreciably to the densities of the layers. Moreover, the finalized design will exclude hydrogel bead suspensions, as the beads will not contribute to the release of FITC-BSA. Thus, FITC-BSA will become encapsulated within the high-density hydrogel layer, as shown below in Figure 1. To encapsulate the prototype drug, FITC-BSA will be mixed with sodium alginate before calcium chloride solution is added. To quantify the therapeutic release three hydrogel mixtures will be created, including: a high density layer, a low d...
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