UC researchers use wireless technology to heal wounds

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are healing wounds wirelessly.

A team of UC researchers invented a noninvasive device that uses high-frequency electric fields, slightly higher than the range emitted from cell phones, to treat diabetic ulcers. They recently received a U.S. patent for the device.

The work reflects UC’s innovation agenda, a platform of the university’s strategic direction, Next Lives Here. 

About 15 percent of people with diabetes have diabetic ulcers, chronic wounds that are most common in the foot. These ulcers can start with a small cut and can persist for a long time, because cells affected by diabetes don’t respond quickly enough to heal these wounds. Untreated, the ulcers can cause long-term complications and even lead to amputation. 

“We’re not talking about just an inconvenience,” said UC associate professor of biomedical engineering Daria Narmoneva, who is the lead inventor of the device. “People have to live with this for months, sometimes years.”

Narmoneva’s team wanted to create a noninvasive device that was more effective than current treatments, which only work for about 70 percent of people. The research team, which included UC physics professor Andrei Kogan, came up with a device that uses electric waves to trigger the sluggish cells into action.  

Featured image at top: UC biomedical graduate students Nava P. Rijal and Vasuretha Chandar work in the UC Vascular Tissue and Cellular Engineering laboratory. Photo/Corrie Stookey/CEAS Marketing