Self-powered bandage to speed skin wound healing
Official title: Enhanced Wound Healing Through Nanogenerator-Driven Self-Activated Electrical Stimulation
Funded at University of Wisconsin-Madison · NIH-11292886 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A lightweight, disposable bandage that generates tiny electric pulses to help people with slow-healing or chronic skin wounds heal faster.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Wisconsin-Madison NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Madison, United States) |
| Project start | February 27, 2025 |
| Project end | January 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $432,678 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AR084031-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11292886 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with chronic or slow-healing skin wounds, including ischemic ulcers or hard-to-heal surgical and traumatic wounds, would be the most likely candidates.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with internal (non-skin) wounds or those with contraindications to electrical stimulation—such as certain implanted electronic devices or severe adhesive allergies—may not benefit.
What this research studies
This project is building a small, self-powered bandage that produces brief electric pulses using nanogenerator technology to stimulate skin cells. Researchers will test different electrical signals and device designs in lab-grown cells, animal wound models, and human skin graft models to find the safest and most effective settings. They will measure how quickly wounds close, how cells respond, and whether the device is safe under both normal and low-blood-flow (ischemic) conditions. The goal is an affordable, over-the-counter Band-Aid–like product that patients could use at home to speed healing and reduce complications.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could shorten healing time, lower infection risk, and make wound care easier with a low-cost, disposable patch.
How similar studies have gone: Electrical stimulation has shown benefit for wound healing in prior studies, and early lab results for this self-powered approach reported much faster healing in animal and human skin graft models, though a disposable consumer patch is a new advance.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Xudong — University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Study coordinator: Wang, Xudong
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.