Liquorice Offers Clue to Cleaner Medical Implants Using Nanotechnology, Georg-Speyer-Haus Institute for Biomedical Research Study

A nanotechnology material containing an extract from liquorice can be used to sterilize and protect medical devices and implants which include biological components, and protects these functional bio-components during the sterilization process. Publishing their findings in the latest issue of Materials Today ("Nano-coating protects biofunctional materials"), a team of researchers from Germany and Austria explain how conventional sterilization techniques based on a blast of radiation, or exposure to toxic gas can damage the functional biological components of the device. The coating, containing a component found in liquorice and developed by German biotech company LEUKOCARE AG, protects these sensitive components.