A collaborative team from Harvard University and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has engineered iHEÄLS, a shape-adaptive hydrogel designed to transform emergency reconstructive surgery and severe facial trauma care. Unlike rigid surgical implants that require doctors to reshape surrounding bone, this biomaterial conforms tightly to wet tissue surfaces, achieving rapid hemostasis while stabilizing tiny bone fragments in complex fractures. Preclinical models show that the hydrogel creates a biologically supportive microenvironment that accelerates natural tissue regeneration.
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