Team makes gecko-inspired adhesive bandage

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have long admired the gecko lizard for its gravity-defying feet. Now U.S. researchers have made a waterproof bandage inspired by the sticky surface of a gecko's paws.

The finding, published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could be used in the operating room in surgeries or to repair wounds.

"What we did was to mimic what the gecko does," Robert Langer, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a telephone interview.

Langer and colleague Jeff Karp of Harvard Medical School used computer technology to sculpt extremely tiny hills and valleys on the surface of the bandage to grip the underlying tissue, improving its adhesion.

The bandage is made of a biorubber material invented by Langer, Karp and others.

While different teams have created gecko-inspired glues that could be used in dry environments, the bandage would be suitable for use in wet environments, such as in heart, bladder or lung tissue.

It is biodegradable, so it could be left inside the body.

"There is a big need for a tape-based medical adhesive," Karp said in a statement.