Ocular trauma redressal requires advanced surgical equipment and specialty surgical centers. The Corneal Transplant Market, currently at 40,000 per year in the US, is expected to grow at 10.8% from 2017 to 2023. The other targets are European, and the Asia Pacific markets. The societal impact entails enabling rapid care provision to patients like soldiers in combat to trauma and elderly and pediatric patients, as well as the reduction in operative and post-operative costs.

We have developed a modified hydrogel to make antimicrobial, highly adhesive for surgical applications. This is a material platform to make cost-effective, sutureless, and user-friendly adhesives to heal injury to biological tissue and save operative and post-operative time and cost. The current primary needs for ocular trauma surgery entail operative and postoperative time and cost reduction. Currently, there are no such FDA approved material platforms to effectively replace the presently used techniques of suturing. The merit of this novel material platform is that it is an antibacterial and hemostatic bioadhesive based on a bio ionic liquid functionalized biopolymer. We expect biocompatibility, biodegradability, no toxicity, and excellent adhesion to tissues even in the presence of body fluids. We also expect this material platform to aid in blood coagulation, facilitate healing, and inhibit bacterial growth.

This innovation will circumvent the limitations of current surgical approaches as well as post-operative care and cost in corneal repair and in the future can be extended to repair of other human tissues.