A team of WSU researchers was awarded the Defense Innovation Award for developing a bandage-like adhesive with small embedded circuits to treat bacterial infections and facilitate wound healing.

Mia Kiamco, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at WSU, contributed to the study, and said the adhesive looks like a bandage, but acts as a wound dressing.

Abdelrhman Mohamed, a WSU graduate student who has worked on the study for about five years, said the bandage generates biocides, which are chemicals like hydrogen peroxide that kill certain microorganisms but not human tissue.

The team is currently performing trials on the bandage to see how the research could be beneficial in the future, Kiamco said.

Haluk Beyenal, a professor in chemical engineering and bioengineering and the adviser of the study, said this project was funded by the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and WSU Commercialization Gap Fund.

Reporting by Jonathan Villanueva