This article I found interesting due to the two uses of such a technology. The article talks about a new injectable implant developed by BME’s at Johns Hopkins University. The team has developed a implants out of a combination of hyaluronic acid (HA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG), which can be injected under the skin as a liquid and then massaged into a desired shape or area before using an LED light source to crosslink the PEG and create solid hydrogels that are held into place by the HA particles. The material can even be tuned by modifying the amounts of HA and PEG so that it can more accurately match the properties of the tissue surrounding it.

It should be interesting to see how this technology is used by the public. I’m sure the goal was to help surgeons and reconstructive surgeries, but inevitably I’m sure it will find a much greater demand in the plastic surgery fields.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=injectable-implants-for-soft-tissue-reconstruction