In 2023, Gao’s team cleared the first hurdle toward achieving that goal by showing that a smart bandage they developed could provide real-time data about chronic wounds in animal models, while also accelerating the healing process through the timely application of medication or electrical fields to stimulate tissue growth.

Now Gao and his colleagues from Caltech and the Keck School of Medicine of USC have cleared another hurdle by demonstrating that an improved version of their bandage, which they call iCares, was able to continually sample fluid, which the body sends to wound sites as part of the inflammatory response, in 20 human patients with chronic wounds. These wounds were not able to heal either because of diabetes or poor blood circulation; the researchers also studied additional patients before and after surgery.