Dresden-based company develops space plaster for serious injuries

Dresden. A Dresden-based research company is taking on the big names in medical technology. Medical technology is the market in which there is almost endless turnover to be made now and in the future. It is correspondingly competitive. Better wound care was and is one of the ongoing issues. Despite all the high-tech innovation in medicine, it is still one of the biggest problems. This is precisely where the Dresden Institute of Air Handling and Refrigeration (ILK gGmbH) wants to enter the market with Stellar Heal. Together with partners from the two Fraunhofer Institutes ISC (Würzburg) and ITEM (Regensburg) as well as the Hannover Medical School, the Stellar Heal project for space wound healing was launched at the beginning of the year.

It's actually about medical care on Earth. But this time it starts in space, in zero gravity, Holger Reinsch reports to the SZ. He heads the Dresden part of the project for the ILK. His specialty is cryogenics, deep-freeze technology that he adapts for living cells. Stellar Heal would not work without it. The prototype of a new wound closure is being developed here. The aim is not to use a synthetic wound dressing, even for larger wounds. Instead, the wound is to be closed with a new type of cell gel on bio-fleece absorbent cotton. A wound closure with the body's own cells and ultimately biodegradable by the body itself. The prototype is to be created in two years, Reinsch announces. Clinical use in hospitals seems feasible within ten years. That may sound like a long time, but for new medical products it would be rather quick.

Win the competition and get money

445 companies and research institutions applied. 199 projects from 24 countries were submitted to the jury for a decision. Only six of them made it through to the Inno-Space Masters competition organized by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The medical project with the ILK Dresden is there. Stellar Heal will be able to develop this new type of wound closure within two years. Half a million euros are available. This would not be nearly enough if it were not for the existing decades of experience of the project partners. At the ILK Dresden, this is refrigeration technology for the life sciences. The Fraunhofer ISC already has patents on biodegradable non-woven absorbent cotton and the other Fraunhofer partner ITEM has years of stem cell research.

Injuries on long space missions are a problem. These are large wounds from cuts or burns that are difficult to heal. If healing takes a long time on Earth, it is further disrupted in space by weightlessness, physical stress and radiation. With Stellar Heal, a biodegradable fibrous absorbent cotton is placed in the wound. This is sealed with a bioactive gel applied from a syringe. It contains the body's own specialized cells. These are connective tissue cells and special scavenger cells, macrophages, according to the project documents. The aim is to achieve wound closure, tissue regeneration and infection protection faster and more reliably than with previous methods, and without the need for additional wound dressings.

Preserving astronauts' own body cells for a long journey into space is then Dresden's job. Ultimately, the living cells have to be frozen, remain intact for months to years and function fully after thawing without any damage. Holger Reinsch reports that how the cells are cooled and thawed is crucial. No ice must form, which would ultimately destroy the cell membranes. Dehydration in turn damages proteins and volume expansion would cause cells to burst.

The ILK has experience of how such cell preservation works and which are medically approved. However, such liquids would form small droplets in zero gravity and disperse uncontrollably in the air. An adhesive gel must therefore be found that meets all medical requirements, protects the cells from frost damage and sticks to the wound. This would then be a biodegradable wound closure.

Into space and back to earth

"Stellar Heal is not about a product, it is a new technology that is being developed here," says Holger Reinsch. Ultimately, it will probably be needed less in space and much more on Earth. Chronic wounds that are difficult to heal are also a widespread disease due to the ageing population, often caused by vascular diseases, diabetes or bedriddenness. Provided it works, which seems possible in individual cases for distant space travel, it would not be affordable for standard clinical use due to the body's own cells required. Obtaining these cells from stem cells is extremely expensive. "Ultimately, our major goal is to create a generally compatible cell preparation instead of an individual cell preparation." These would be cells that suit a large number of people without serious side effects. Stellar Heal will not yet be able to achieve this. But as a prototype, it would be the prerequisite for achieving exactly that. In about ten years, Holger Reinsch estimates. Which would be pretty quick from a medical point of view.

SZ