In a Spin

Our bodies aren’t the friendliest of places. An army of suspicious cells keeps constant patrol, sniffing out any newcomers and keeping us infection-free. However, they can cause problems when doctors try to introduce potentially life-saving biomaterials. For example, to repair hernias that can develop after surgery, one tactic is to implant a supporting mesh for cells to grow on, repairing the damage. But this structure must play nice with the body’s ever-aware defenders. One solution might come from a technique called electrospinning. Strands of material 100 times thinner than a human hair are drawn out of a liquid broth via an electrified needle. These fibres form a nanomesh (pictured) that can be made out of a wide range of substances and contain anything from drugs to cells. Other applications for electrospinning range from contraception to organ transplants, and although there’s still some fine-tuning needed, the potential is electrifying.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

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• Image by Beatriz Veleirinho and colleagues
• Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS One, April 2014