Science-fiction meets reality with cutting-edge research pioneering plasma jet healing coming one step closer to the instant wound healing technology that captures our imaginations on the big screen.
Australian researchers from James Cook University, Flinders University and the Australian National University have been experimenting with liquid plasma micro jets in a vacuum chamber lab, using a new approach to understanding the fundamentals of electron transport to enhance plasma-liquid models.
Their study, published on the 20th of March in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, uses a simulation of a new experimental technique to determine accurate electron cross-sections in liquid using a micro-jet of water just 15 micrometres in diameter.
This proof-of-concept model used machine learning and a Monte Carlo simulation (a mathematical technique used to estimate the possible outcomes of an uncertain event) designed by physics researcher Dale Muccignat, a James Cook University PhD candidate.
“The method allowed us to reasonably predict individual and two simultaneous electron scattering cross sections which lays the foundation for a prediction of full, self-consistent cross-section sets in future studies,” Mr Muccignat said.
Plasma is the fourth state of matter and exists as a cloud of high-energy charged particles, and low temperature plasmas (below 40°C) that can be generated at atmospheric pressure have opened a new frontier in biomedical applications.
Low temperature plasmas are known to generate electric fields and/or controllable amounts of specific agents – including reactive species (radicals and non-radicals), charged particles and photons – that are transported to react with biological targets such as cells and tissues.
Flinders University Professor Michael Brunger explained that while science points to plasma medicine as a new way to increase the rate of healing and alter or sterilise heat-sensitive tissue, so far, many direct applications remain out of reach without accurate predictive models.
“Due to the high standards required in medical applications, developing our understanding of electron transport into and within liquids is critical for enhancing the predictive power of plasma-liquid models,” Professor Brunger said.
While the body of knowledge in this field has expanded significantly, the physical and biochemical mechanisms whereby low temperature plasma affects cells and tissues are still not fully explained, and a thorough understanding of these mechanisms is expected to lead to the development of novel plasma-based medical therapies.
It has taken researchers 25 years to take plasma medicine from the point of initial discovery to fundamental scientific investigation stage, to applications on actual patients – a process helped by the recruitment of health science experts (biochemists, microbiologists, etc.) to participate in studies alongside molecular scientists.