One exciting development delves into ongoing research at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. It involves the use of a hand-held device that can quickly produce nanofiber scaffolds that one day may be used to produce sterile bandages for wound care applications in the field. It’s reported as a concept similar to that of a spider producing silk and building a web.
As fascinating and promising as these and many other projects are, those of us in the packaging community wonder what such products will require of packaging. Would they need better barrier properties? More precise temperature and humidity considerations from manufacture to point of care? New materials such as nanotechnology? Maybe some of these treatments will be developed at the hospital or medical facility and won’t even require traditional packaging.
