NYU super-student invents instant blood-clotting gel

By Victoria Wellman

PUBLISHED: 09:07 EST, 18 March 2013 | UPDATED: 11:12 EST, 18 March 2013

Genius: NYU student, Joe Landolina, 20, has invented a revolutionary blood-clotting gel that could save soldiers in the field

NYU boasts many budding geniuses among its students but one has already proven he is an Einstein in the making by inventing a gel that stops bleeding instantly and heals wounds without the need for a single bandage.

Joe Landolina, a bachelor's student of bio-molecular chemical engineering who is also studying for a masters in biomedical engineering, used his scientific savvy to recreate naturally occurring polymers in the body that clot blood on contact.

Initially intended for veterinarian practices, Mr Landolina told MailOnline that he hopes Veti-Gel will soon be used by the armed forces in the field to treat major trauma victims and stops wounds bleeding out until they can get to hospital. 

Still only a junior at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU,  the brainy student developed the science in 2010 and along with fellow student Isaac Miller, formed a company around the product, then called Medi-Gel, in 2012 as a bid to enter a business competition.

He explained of the change in name: 'Medi-Gel was a working name and we still use it internally but the first market we're trying to break into is the veterinary market, hence the name Veti-Gel.

'For humans there are similar products available, very expensive but similar, but for animals, there is nothing that coagulates blood quickly enough.

'I have spoken to hundreds of vets and heard how in situations where for example, a spleen is bleeding, they would rather take the spleen out than risk waiting for any of the current products to work quickly enough. So Veti-Gel would be very well received in this industry.'

Having performed clinical trials on lab rats, Mr Landolina says he is constantly amazed by how effective the gel is.

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New-age bandage: Veti-Gel uses a plant-based haemophilic polymer that grabs onto the blood and forces it to coagulate while another polymer then replicates the skin tricking the body into thinking it is skin

To show the public he conducted an experiment on a piece of pork loin injected with real pig's blood.

'I went to my neighborhood butcher in Brooklyn and said I needed the freshest meat you have, and it was pork loin,' he told the New York Post. Sure enough, once an incision was made and blood oozed from the cut, it stopped as if by magic once the gel was applied.

A two-part process, Veti-Gel uses a plant-based hemophilic polymer that grabs onto the blood and 'snaps it back together to seal the wound'.  Another polymer then replicates the skin tricking the body into thinking it is skin.

Gamma-sterilized, it has antimicrobial properties and used by surgeons in sterile environments is a safe, disinfecting way to heal a wound.

In dusty, dirty war zones, however, Veti-Gel will most likely be used as a temporary fix to help soldiers until they receive proper medical help. 'Doctors would then remove it and treat the wound,' explained Mr Landolina.

Such technology, he claims, could potentially replace 80 percent of the wound-care market such as band-aids, antiseptic gels and bandages, and he and his four-man team are working towards getting approval from the FDA.

Meanwhile, the ambitious student has to manage his time between business and academia.  'It's a balancing act. I've gotten better at it over the last few years. This spring break, I'm working from Florida, that's enough spring break for me!'

WATCH video of a pork loin blood clotting here