The team of technology anti-infection

Combat beset by injuries throughout the Army in part because the multidrug-resistant bacteria. Be sure to spray a compound fracture with micro-capsules, a drug intended to strengthen the immune system, infections stop before it starts.

This technology could be around the corner, said Bingyun Li, Ph.D., University of West Virginia Department of Orthopedics and director of the WVU biomaterials, Bio-Engineering and Nanotechnology Laboratory. Li has a team Drug Delivery technology with micro-capsules - and a second technique, Nanocoating - It has been shown to work in studies in animals.

Results of the research team in connection with the drug interleukin-12, a drug at the moment in the fight against cancer clinical studies in the May issue of the journal Biomaterials. A description of the procedure, an alternative to treatment with antibiotics, is provided in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Orthopedic Research.

"This revolutionary technique could be important, the United States because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Li "The treatment of victims of the battlefield is expensive, and the infection rate is 2% to 15%. In some cases, because the organisms have developed resistance, antibiotics do not work. "

Outside the arena of war, millions of people might be helped to make the technology, because the infection can lead, if one of implanted biomedical devices.

Li-team of two ways, for interleukin-12.

The first consists of micro-capsules, injection, or, perhaps, in a fine mist spray directly on the site of an offense. The second is a Nanocoating of interleukin-12 on the stents, pacemakers, pain pumps, artificial limbs - practically all biomedical devices - before implantation. The coating is on the nano-scale, one nanometer is a billionth of a meter.

"Interleukin-12 is the maximization of the natural reaction of the body, to some extent, whether the infections can be avoided without the risk of bacterial resistance to develop the treatment, as is increasingly a problem with antibiotic therapy alone. Nanocoating With the drug, where they are needed - at the interface between the implant and tissue, "said Li" With the microcapsule, drugs can be injected or sprayed, where you want, and Nanocoating microcapsule and extension of the half-life of interleukin-12. "

In both methods, because interleukin-12, it is provided locally, rather than the whole body, like antibiotics, therapy, side effects are minimal, "says Li

Li has his team in the division of orthopedics WVU, the WVU School of Pharmacy, the National Institute of Health and Safety (NIOSH) and the WVU Institute of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology.

Li, who is also a guest with NIOSH researchers, holds a conference on technology, yet this summer, officials of the Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland. He also worked with Christopher Kolanko, Ph.D., a counselor with the Department of Defense for the WVU Research Corporation, and program director with the Department of Defense, the future of research to discuss the possibilities and military applications .

Li-team over the past four years, technology development, funded in part by the WVU Research Corporation, the National Science Foundation and the Osteosynthesis and Trauma Care Foundation.