The most popular publication on SciPhu.com is on gel drying of SDS-PAGE using Poly-Ethylene-Glycol (PEG). PEG is used in many industrial applications as well as in research-experiments in the lab. Now Nature news reports that PEG may have a (distant) future in Medical applications as well. The nature News piece quotes Richard Borgens of Purdue University saying PEG acts by:

absorbing water, promoting the healing of cell membranes and preventing “the exchange of things that cause decay and degeneration of the cell”. Once it reaches human trials, PEG could be carried by trauma units and administered as soon as emergency crews reach victims of blunt-force trauma.

Especially the phrase

…..preventing “the exchange of things that cause decay and degeneration…..

,..appeals to me.

Hurray for PEG, – and may I remind you that using monodisperse PEGs (PEGs with a defined mass) increases the accuracy and reproducibility of anything you would want to use it for.