Billions of dollars are spent every year because of complications of wound healing. Researchers at the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando have discovered a new technology to accelerate wound healing. Their research is published in the Life Cell Biology and Tissue Engineering Journal.
Dr. Frederick R Carrick, Professor of Neurology at the College of Medicine at UCF, reported that animals with wounds and injured stem cells that were placed on a special ceramic blanket healed much faster than controls. Gladiator Therapeutics manufactured the therapeutic ceramic blanket that was used in this research. The researchers reported that wounds in animals and in stem cells were both repaired significantly faster when they treated them with ceramic blankets.
This research was designed and accepted for presentation at the USA Department of Defense’s premier scientific meeting, the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS). Dr. Carrick stated that the new ceramic blankets do not need a power supply and are ideally suited for use in both combat and civilian wound treatments. Large wounds, such as those suffered in combat are easily infected and may result in increased suffering, disability, and death amongst Warfighters. Faster healing of wounds can decrease pain and suffering and save lives.
The UCF College of Medicine research team is conducting ongoing research on the use of the Gladiator ceramic blanket in animal models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and wound care. They have recently developed a new Alzheimer’s therapy combining drugs that affect stem cells that increase the development of brain cells and improve brain function. The UCF lab is also the first to transplant stem cells isolated from the human brain to aged rats where they showed increased development of new brain cells and improvement of cognition.
Dr. Kiminobu Sugaya, Professor of Medicine at the UCF College of Medicine is excited about their findings. Dr. Sugaya stated that the benefits of using the Gladiator ceramic blanket are that it can be used anywhere without a power supply or the side effects that are commonly found when injecting chemicals or drugs.. The UCF lab’s research focus is to develop stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, wound healing, and ALS.
