Tomás Corrales leads a team at the Federico Santa María Technical University that had been searching for a different answer for wounds that do not close.
They found it in something as simple as ulmo honey, a resource that grows in southern Chile and Patagonia. With nanotechnology and electrospinning, they turned it into a transparent membrane that gradually releases its properties onto injured skin, mimicking human tissue rather than merely covering it. They tested it against Manuka honey from New Zealand, the world’s most renowned honey for medicinal use, and ulmo honey proved equal or better at regenerating human fibroblasts.
The price difference is what ultimately tells the story: a kilogram of ulmo honey costs about 6 dollars, compared with the 400 dollars that a kilogram of Manuka costs. A solution born in southern Chile could soon reach those who need it most.
