Research from Guillermo Ameer, John Rogers Featured on Advanced Healthcare Materials Cover
The cover spotlights collaborative research describing technology to monitor wound healing for diabetes patients by measuring the wound’s temperature
A paper from Northwestern Engineering’s Guillermo A. Ameer and John Rogers has been featured on a cover of a prestigious academic journal.
First posted online November 20, the article “Materials and Device Designs for Wireless Monitoring of Temperature and Thermal Transport Properties of Wound Beds during Healing” earned the inside back cover for the February 19 volume of Advanced Healthcare Materials. The paper describes the work done by Ameer and Rogers to alleviate an issue for people suffering with diabetes: their cuts and wounds can take a long time to heal and if not properly monitored to provide proper care, can lead to amputation.
To help with this problem, the researchers produced a wireless device that tracks the temperature and how heat moves across the wound. This device promises to help doctors and patients understand how well the wound is healing by providing detailed and continuous data. The device uses special materials that can dissolve in the body, making it safer and easier to use.
In February 2023, Ameer and Rogers developed a first-of-its-kind small, flexible, stretchable bandage that accelerates healing by delivering electrotherapy directly to the wound site. In an animal study, the new bandage healed diabetic ulcers 30 percent faster than in mice without the bandage.
An expert in regenerative engineering, Ameer is the Daniel Hale Williams Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering and professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He also directs the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering (CARE) and the predoctoral Regenerative Engineering Training Program, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Rogers is the Louis Simpson and Kimberly Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery at Northwestern Engineering and Feinberg. He also directs the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics.