Bio-Inspired Strategy for Innovative Menstrual Products

Yilan Ye from Tsinghua University in China will develop a small, self-adhesive menstrual product based on the suction cups of octopuses that can be fixed securely but reversibly inside the vaginal opening to block the flow of blood and enable its convenient disposal. They will design it specifically for women and girls in low- and middle-income countries by ensuring it is low-cost, re-usable, safe to apply, and does not require sanitation facilities. They will experiment with different commercialized, biocompatible thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) as the raw materials to produce the adhesive polymers. They will first test these polymers for their ability to be strongly, reversibly and repeatedly stuck to the surface of porcine livers and hearts as surrogates that mimic the moist and irregular skin surface inside the vagina. Finally, they will develop an inject mold to manufacture a prototype for human testing that also contains a soft valve for convenient release.