Researchers at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital engineered a new material that looks highly promising for use in accelerating wound healing, building replacement tissues, and growing new blood vessels. The photocrosslinkable elastin-like polypeptide-based (ELP) hydrogel is biocompatible, having characteristics similar to many soft tissues within the human body, and is activated using ultraviolet light. The mechanical properties and swelling of the final material can be controlled ahead of time by changing the concentration of the ingredients, potentially making it viable for use in widely differing applications … read more